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Publisher 


EDUCATION  DtKl 


READINGS  IN 
AMERICAN  HISTORY 


BY 


DAVID  SAVILLE  MUZZEY,  PH.D. 

BARNARD    COLLEGE,  COLUMBIA    UNIVERSITY,  NEW    YORK 


Out  of  monuments,  names,  words,  proverbs, 
traditions,  private  records,  fragments  of  stories, 
passages  of  books,  and  the  like,  do  we  save  and 
recover  somewhat  from  the  deluge  of  time. 

FRANCIS  BACON,  The  Advancement  of  Learning 


REVISED  EDITION 


GINN  AND  COMPANY 

BOSTON  •  NEW  YORK  •  CHICAGO  •  LONDON 
ATLANTA  -  DALLAS  •  COLUMBUS  •  SAN  FRANCISCO 


E173 


COPYRIGHT,  1915, 1921,  BY 

DAVID  SAVILLE  MUZZEY 


ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 
123.9 

Qfft      -^Hshe* 

EDUCATION  DEPT, 


gfrc   fltftenaum 

G1NN  AND  COMPANY  •  PRO 
PRIETORS   •  BOSTON  •  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

The  use  of  selected  material  from  primary  sources  to 
illustrate  and  enliven  the  narrative  of  the  textbook  has 
become  so  general  and  has  proved  so  valuable  that  there 
is  no  further  need  for  apology  or  explanation  in  the 
introduction  of  a  book  of  historical  readings.  In  select 
ing  the  material  for  the  present  volume  the  author  has 
sought  to  give  the  student  a  sense  of  the  number  and 
variety  of  sources  —  acts  of  Congress,  decisions  of  courts, 
proclamations  and  messages  of  presidents,  records  of 
debates,  party  platforms,  charters,  pamphlets,  memoirs, 
diaries,  letters,  plays,  poems,  etc. —  that  are  available  for 
the  illustration  of  American  history. 

A  unique  feature  of  the  book  is  the  frequent  employ 
ment  of  two  or  more  extracts  for  the  elucidation  of  a 
single  topic,  these  extracts  either  furnishing  cumulative 
evidence  from  different  sources  or  presenting  conflicting 
or  divergent  views  of  different  authors.  For  example,  Nos. 
14,  17,  37,  40,  45,  68,  81,  9-1,  93,  104  illustrate  the  type 
of  the  "  cumulative  group  of  extracts,"  while  Nos.  24,  30, 
34,  39,  59,  74,  94,  106,  114,  116  represent  the 
"  conflicting  group."  The  value  of  such  groups  is  twofold : 
they  not  only  help  to  save  the  source-book  from  the  gen 
erally  merited  reproach  of  scrappiness,  but  they  furnish 
the  student  with  just  what  he  is  likely  to  miss  in  the 
study  of  the  textbook,  namely,  the  realization  that  on 
every  important  historical  and  social  question  there  is  and 
has  been  a  variety  of  opinion  and  judgment. 


5686 


iv  Preface 

Although  the  readings  can  be  used  to  advantage  with 
any  textbook  on  the  subject,  they  have  been  planned 
especially  as  a  companion  volume  to  the  author's  "  Amer 
ican  History,"  following  the  text  chapter  by  chapter  and 
section  by  section.  There  are  constant  references  to  the 
History  in  the  notes,  and  beneath  each  marginal  title  of 
the  Readings  a  number  in  brackets  refers  to  the  page  of 
the  History  where  the  subject  illustrated  by  the  reading 
is  treated  in  the  narrative. 

A  few  of  the  extracts  are  taken  from  secondary  works ; 
and  due  acknowledgment  is  made  to  D.  Appleton  and 
Company  for  the  passages  from  Professor  McMaster 
(Nos.  45,  70),  to  the  Century  Company  for  the  quotations 
from  De  Tocqueville  (Nos.  67,  74)  and  Nicolay  and  Hay 
(No.  87),  to  Houghton  Mifflin  Company  for  the  descrip 
tion  from  John  S.  Wise  (No.  95),  to  Charles  Scribner's 
Sons  for  the  pages  from  Robert  Louis  Stevenson  (No. 
112),  and  to  Messrs.  Ziegler  and  McCurdy  for  the  extracts 
from  Alexander  H.  Stephens  (Nos.  89,  97). 

It  is  hoped  that  the  detailed  Table  of  Contents  will  serve 
the  teacher  as  a  working  bibliography  of  the  sources  of 
American  history.  It  can  be  best  supplemented  by  the 
comprehensive  "Classified  Bibliography"  in  Part  II  of 
Channing,  Hart,  and  Turner's  "  Guide  to  the  Study  and 
Reading  of  American  History "  (Ginn  and  Company, 
1912).  The  reference  in  the  case  of  each  extract  in  the 
Readings  is  to  the  publication  in  which  the  source  from 
which  that  extract  is  taken  is  most  available  for  the 
teacher.  Hence  compilations  of  documents  and  editions  of 
statesmen's  works  have  been  freely  cited.  The  original 
spelling,  punctuation,  capitalization,  and  syntax  (or  the 
want  of  it)  have  been  left  unchanged  in  the  Readings. 


Preface  v 

The  author  wishes  to  express  his  thanks  to  the  efficient 
staff  of  the  loan  and  reference  departments  of  the  library 
of  Columbia  University  for  their  constant  and  willing 
courtesy  in  supplying  his  needs,  and  to  Professor  James 
Harvey  Robinson,  the  general  editor  of  this  series  of 
textbooks  and  readings,  for  his  sympathetic  interest  and 
valued  suggestions  at  all  stages  of  the  work. 

DAVID  SAVILLE  MUZZEY 
NEW  YORK 


CONTENTS 
PART  I 

THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  ENGLISH 
CHAPTER  I  — THE  NEW  WORLD 

PAGE 

THE  DISCOVERY  OF  AMERICA 

1.  Geography  before  Columbus 

STRABO,  Geography,  Book  I,  chap,  iv,  par.  6 3 

SENECA,  Medea,  Act  II,  Ik  371  ff 3 

PULCI,  Morganti  Maggiore,  Canto  XXV,  strophes  229,  230  4 
ST.  AMBROSE,  Hexaemeron,  in  Migne,  Patrologia  Latina, 

Vol.  XIV,  col.  123 4 

THOMAS  WRIGHT,  Popular  Treatises  on  Science  written 

during  the  Middle  Ages,  London,  1841,  pp.  1-3  ..  5 
ALEXANDER  OF  NECKAM,  De  Arattira  Rerum,  ed.  Thos. 

Wright,  in  Rolls  Series,  Book  II,  chap.  98,  p.  183     .  5 

2.  The  "  Capitulation  "  of  April  17,  1492 

FILSON  YOUNG,  Christopher  Cohimbits,  Vol.  II,  Appen 
dix  C,  pp.  336-337 6 

3.  Columbus'  letter  to  Luis  de  Santangel,  February  15,  1493 

Original  Narratives  of  Early  American  History,  Vol.  I, 
ed.  OLSON  and  BOURNE,  The  Northmen,  Columbus 
and  Cabot,  pp.  263-271  7 

4.  Columbus  complains  to  his  son  Diego,  December  i ,  1 504 

JOHN  BOYD  THACHER,  Christopher  Columbus,  Vol.  Ill, 

pp.  318-325    .....    9 

A  CENTURY  OF  EXPLORATION 

5.  Magellan's  voyage  around  the  world,  1519-1522 

PIGAPHETA'S  Narrative,  in  Hakluyt  Society  Publications, 
Vol.  LII,  pp.  35-163 i/ 


vm  Contents 

6T\      r^         ,  PAGE 

.  De  Soto's  journey  to  the  Mississippi,  1538-1542 

RICHARD  HAKLUYT,  Voyages,  Travels,  and  Discoveries, 

Vol.  V,  pp.  476-550     .     . I5 

7.  A  Tribute  to  Queen  Elizabeth  as  the  "  Mother  of  Eng 

lish  Sea-greatnesse,"  1625 
Hakluytus  Postumus,  or  PURCHAS,  His  Pilgrimes,  ed. 

MacLehose,  Glasgow,  Vol.  XIX,  pp.  449-450    .    .     18 

8.  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert's  patent,  1578 

RICHARD  HAKLUYT  (see  No.  6),  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  174-176        19 

9.  An  encouragement  to  English  colonization,  1584 

RICHARD  HAKLUYT,  A  Discourse  Concerning  Western 
Planting,  in  Maine  Historical  Society's  Documen 
tary  History,  Series  II,  Vol.  II,  pp.  101-161  ...  20 

CHAPTER  II  — THE  ENGLISH  COLONIES 
THE  OLD  DOMINION 

10.  An  English  gentleman's  impression  of  Jamestown  in 
1619 

Original  Narratives  (see  No.  3),  Vol.  Ill,  ed.  L.  G. 
TYLER,  Narratives  of  Early  Virginia,  pp.  281-287  24 

n.  Virginia  changes  masters,  1651-1662 

EBENEZER    HAZARD,    Historical    Collections    of   State 

Papers,  Vol.  I,  pp.  556-558 26 

W.  W.  HEN  ING,  Statutes  at  Large  .  .  .  of  Virginia,  Vol.  I, 

P-  530       27 

EBENEZER  HAZARD,  op.  cit.  Vol.  II,  pp.  607-611  ...    28 

12.  An    eyewitness'  account   of    Bacon's    rebellion,    1675- 

1676 

PETER  FORCE,  Tracts  .  .  .  relating  to  the  Origin,  Settle 
ment,  and  Progress  of  the  Colonies  in  North  America, 
Vol.  I,  No.  8 30 

THE  NEW  ENGLAND  SETTLEMENTS 

13.  The  coming  of  the  Pilgrims,  1620 

Original  Narratives  (see  No.  3),  Vol.  VI,  ed.  W.  T. 
DAVIS,  Bradford's  History  of  Plimouth  Plantation, 
pp.  32-107  passim 34 


Contents  ix 

,  PAGE 

14.  Illustrations  of  Puritan  character 

THOMAS  HUTCHINSON,  History  of  the  Colony  of  Massa 
chusetts  Bay,  Vol.  I,  pp.  151-153 37 

SAMUEL  WHITING,  Life  of  John  Cotton,  in  Alexander 
Young's  Chronicles  of  the  First  Planters  of  the 
Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  pp.  423-430  ...  39 

COTTON  MATHER'S  Diary,  in  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society  Collections,  Series  VII,  Vol.  VIII,  pp.  3-5, 
252-258 40 

15.  "Independency"  in  Massachusetts,  1664 

THOMAS  HUTCHINSON  (see  No.  14),  Vol.  I,  pp.  537-542, 

appendix 42 

1 6.  The  "  Glorious  Revolution  "  of  1689 

PETER  FORCE  (see  No.  12),  Vol.  IV,  No.  10,  An  Account 

of  the  Late  Revohition  in  New  England  ....  46 

The  Hutchinson  Papers,  in  Publications  of  the  Prince 

Society,  Vol.  II,  pp.  314-317 49 

THE  PROPRIETARY  COLONIES 

17.  Two  accounts  of  early  New  York,  1643,  1661 

The  Jesuit  Relations  and  Allied  Documents,  ed.  R.  G. 
THWAITES,  Vol.  XXVIII,  pp.  105-111 50 

Original  Narratives  (see  No.  3),  Vol.  VIII,  ed.  J.  F. 
JAMESON,  Narratives  of  New  Netherland,  pp.  423- 
424 53 

1 8.  Rivalry  between  Dutch  and  English  in  the  Connecticut 

valley,  1627-1650 

Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Collections  for  the  Year 

1794,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  51-52 55 

Documents  Relative  to  the  Colonial  History  of .  .  .  New 
York,  ed.  E.  B.  O'CALLAGHAN,  Vol.  I,  pp.  287-289  57 

THOMAS  HUTCHINSON  (see  No.  14),  Vol.  I,  pp.  514-515    59 

1 9.  New  Netherland  becomes  New  York,  1 664 

Original  Narratives  (see  No.  3),  Vol.  VIII,  pp.  451-453    60 
Documents  Relative  to  the  Colonial  History  of .  .  .  New 

York  (see  No.  18),  Vol.  II,  pp.  250-253 62 

20.  The  rise  of  the  Quakers,  about  1650 

ROBERT  PROUD,  History  of  Pennsylvania,  Philadelphia, 

1797,  Vol.  I,  pp.  28-61  passim 63 


x  Contents 

PAGE 

Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Collections,  Series  IV, 

Vol.  IX,  p.  159 66 

21.  Peopling  a  new  colony,  1681-1683 

SAMUEL  HAZARD,  Register  of  Pennsylvania,  Vol.  I, 
pp.  306-308 67 

Original  Narratives  (see  No.  3),  Vol.  X,  ed.  A.  C. 
MEYERS,  Narratives  of  Early  Pennsylvania,  West 
New  Jersey,  and  Delaware,  pp.  379-397  ....  69 

THE  COLONIES  IN  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 

22.  The  First  Navigation  Act,  1660 

WILLIAM  MACDONALD,  ed.  Select  Charters  illustrative 

of  American  History,  1606-1775,  PP-  110-115      •     •    72 

23.  Observations    of    two    foreign    visitors,    1748-1749, 

1759-1760 

PETER  KALM,  Travels  into  North  America,  tr.  J.  R. 

Foster,  London,  1770,  Vol.  I,  pp.  260-265  •  •  •  75 

ANDREW  BURNABY,  Travels  .  .  .  in  North  America, 
ed.  John  Pinkerton,  London,  1812,  General  Collec 
tion  of  Travels,  pp.  750-752 77 

24.  Harvard  College  in  the  early  days,  1642,  1680,  1741 

New  England's  First  Fruits,  London,  1643,  PP-  I2~I5   •    80 
The  Journal  of  Jasper  Dankers,  ed.  H.  C.  MURPHY,  in 
Memoirs  of  the  Long  Island  Historical  Society, 

Vol.  I,  pp.  384-385 82 

JosiAH  QUINCY,  History  of  Harvard  University,  Vol.  II, 

pp.  88-89 83 


CHAPTER  III— THE  STRUGGLE  WITH   FRANCE  FOR 
NORTH  AMERICA 

THE  RISE  OF  NEW  FRANCE 

25.  La  Salle's  voyage  down  the  Mississippi,  January  to 
April,  1682 

LE  CLERCQ,  The  First  Establishment  of  the  Faith  in  New 

France,  tr.  John  G.  Shea,  Vol.  II,  pp.  161-179    .    .     85 


Contents  xi 

PAGE 

26.  Dongan  and  Denonville,  1685-1687 

Documents  relative  to  the  Colonial  History  of  New  York 
(see  No.  18),  Vol.  IX,  pp.  292-293  ;  Vol.  Ill, 
pp.  456-472 «  •  •  •  •  87 

27.  The  Albany  plan  of  union,  1754 

The  Writings  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  ed.  A.  H.  SMYTH, 

Vol.  I,  pp.  386-389;  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  197-199  ...      94 

THE  FALL  OF  NEW  FRANCE 

28.  Washington's  embassy  to  the  French  forts,  1753 

The  Writings  of  George  Washington,  ed.  W.  C.  FORD, 

Vol.  I,  pp.  11-40 98 

29.  The  fall  of  Quebec,  September  13,  1759 

JOHN  KNOX,  An  Historical  Journal  of  the  Campaigns 
in  North  America  for  the  Years  1757-1760,  Vol.  II, 
pp.  66-73 I04 

THOMAS  JEFFREYS,  The  Natural  and  Civil  History  of  the 
French  Dominions  in  North  and  South  America, 
pp.  133-136 106 


PART   II 

THE  SEPARATION  OF  THE  COLONIES  FROM 
ENGLAND 

CHAPTER  IV  — BRITISH  RULE  IN  AMERICA 

THE  AUTHORITY  OF  PARLIAMENT  IN  THE  COLONIES 

30.  The  rights  of  the  colonies 

THOMAS  POWNALL,  The  Administration  of  the  Colonies, 

London,  1764,  pp.  x,  40-85 in 

THOMAS  HUTCHINSON,  Letters,  etc.,  Boston,  1773, 

pp.  8,  9,  16 114 

STEPHEN  HOPKINS,  The  Rights  of  Colonies  Examined, 

in  Colonial  Records  of  Rhode  Island,  ed.  J.  R. 

Bartlett,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  419-424 115 


xii  Contents 

TAXATION  WITHOUT  REPRESENTATION 

3 1 .  The  truth  about  the  Stamp  Act 

FRANKLIN,  Works  (see  No.  27),  Vol.  VII,  pp.  118-120    118 
• 

32.  The  Circular  Letter  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  i 768 

The  Writings  of  Saimiel  Adams,  ed.  H.  A.  CUSHING, 

Vol.  I,  pp.  184-188 120 

JOHN  ALMON,  Prior  Documents,  London,  1777, 

pp.  203-205 I23 

33.  The  control  of  the  purse  strings,  1768 

JOHN  DICKINSON,  Letters  from  a  Farmer,  etc.,  pp.  69-80    125 

THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

34.  Conflicting  reports  of  the  conflict  at  Lexington,  April 

19,1775 

Paper  in  the  Hancock-Clark  House  at  Lexington, 

Massachusetts 128 

New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register, 

Vol.  XXVII,  p.  434 I3o 

PETER  FORCE,  American  Archives,  fourth  series, 

Vol.  II,  pp.  488,  491 131 


CHAPTER  V  — THE  BIRTH  OF  THE  NATION 

THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE 

35.  The  final  petition  to  King  George  III,  July  8,  1775 

Journals  of  the  Continental  Congress,  ed.  W.  C.  FORD, 

Vol.  II,  pp.  158-161 133 

36.  Thomas  Paine's   argument   for  independence,  Janu 

ary  10,  1776 

"Common   Sense,"  in  PAINE'S  Writings,  ed.  M.  D. 

Conway,  Vol.  I,  pp.  84-101  passim 138 

37.  The  French  alliance,  1 778 

CHARLEMAGNE  TOWER,  Jr.,  The  Marquis  de  Lafayette 

in  the  American  Revolution,  Vol.  I,  pp.  184,  185  .     141 


Contents  xiii 

PAGE 

Journals   of  the    Continental  Congress    (see    No.   35), 

Vol.  XI,  pp.  449-453,  753,  756,  757       .....    143 
FRANKLIN,  Works  (see  No.  27),  Vol.  VIII,  pp.  641-643    146 

THE  REVOLUTIONARY  WAR 

38.  George  Rogers  Clark's  capture  of  Vincennes,  Febru 

ary  24,  1779 

WILLIAM  H.  ENGLISH,  The  Conquest  of  the  Northwest, 

Vol.  I,  pp.  568-575,  appendix 148 

The  American  Historical  Review  (Documents),  Vol.  I, 

P-95 ; 153 

PEACE 

39.  The  Tories 

HEZEKIAH  NILES,  Principles  and  Acts  of  the  Revolu 
tion,  pp.  393-396 153 

FRANK  MOORE,  Diary  of  the  American  Revolution, 

Vol.  II,  pp.  166-168 • 156 

WINTHROP  SARGENT,  Loyal  Verses  .  .  .  relating  to  the 

American  Revolution,  pp.  11—12 157 

M.  C.  TYLER,  Literary  History  of  the  American  Revo 
lution,  Vol.  II,  pp.  124-125 159 


PART  III 

THE  NEW  REPUBLIC 

CHAPTER  VI  — THE  CONSTITUTION 

THE  CRITICAL  PERIOD 

40.  The  new  nation  on  trial 

RICHARD  PRICE,  Observations  on  the  Importance  of  the 
American  Revolution,  London,  1785,  pp.  I— 8, 
84-85 163 

JOSIAH  TUCKER,  Cui  Bono?  or  an  Inquiry,  Gloucester, 

1781^  pp.  93-96,  117-119 165 

TENCH  COXE,  A  Vz'ew  of  the  United  States,  London, 

1794,  pp.  4,  5,  28-32 167 


xiv  Contents 

41.  Hamilton's  plea  for  an  adequate  constitution,  Septem 

ber  3,  1780 

The  Works  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  ed.  H.  C.  LODGE, 

Vol.  I,  pp.  213-219 !68 

"A  MORE  PERFECT  UNION  " 

42.  The  constitutional  convention,  May  to  September,  1 787 

Jotirnals  of  Congress  (see  No.  35),  Vol.  XII,  p.  17  .  .  172 
,  The  American  Historical  Review  (Documents),  Vol.  Ill, 

PP-  327-331 173 

Debates  on   the  Adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution, 

ed.  JONATHAN  ELLIOT,  Vol.  V,  pp.  554,  556,  565  174 

Ibid.  Vol.  I,  pp.  17-18 176 

43.  Mason's  argument  against  ratification,  1788 

Pamphlets  on  the  Constitution,  ed.  P.  L.  FORD,  pp.  329- 

332 177 

44.  Jefferson's  plan  for  the  government  of  the  West,  1 784 

The   Writings  of  Thomas  Jefferson,   ed.  P.  L.  FORD, 

Vol.  Ill,  pp.  429-432 180 

CHAPTER  VII  — FEDERALISTS  AND  REPUBLICANS 

LAUNCHING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

45.  America  the  land  of  opportunity 

FRANKLIN,  Works  (see  No.  27),  Vol.  VIII,  pp.  603-614  183 
J-  B.  McMASTER,  History  of  the  People  of  the  United 

States,  Vol.  I,  pp.  517-519 186 

LA  ROCHEFOUCAULD- LIANCOURT,  Voyage  dans  les  Etats- 

Unis,  .  .  .  1795-1797,  Vol.  I,  pp.  133-136      .    .    .     187 

46.  The  inauguration  of  the  government,  1 789 

WASHINGTON,  Works  (see  No.  28),  Vol.  XI,  pp.  382- 

383 188 

The  Journal  of  William  Maclay,  ed.  E.  S.  MACLAY, 

pp.  7,  9,  10,  74,  137,  138  .  .  .  . 190 

47.  Jefferson  versus  Hamilton,  1791-1792 

JEFFERSON,  Works  (see  No.  44),  Vol.  V,  pp.  284-287  .  192 
HAMILTON,  Works  (see  No.  41),  Vol.  IX,  pp.  513-535  194 


Contents  xv 

PAGE 

THE  REIGN  OF  FEDERALISM 

48.  The  neutrality  proclamation,  April  22,  1793 

WASHINGTON,  Works  (see  No.  28),  Vol.  XII,  pp.  279- 

282     .    . 197 

49.  The  XYZ  message,  April  3,  1798 

Annals  of  Congress,  5th  Congress,  Vol.  Ill  (ed.  1851), 

PP-  3336-3345 200 

50.  A  plea  for  peace,  October  2,  1 798 

JOEL  BARLOW,  Two  Letters  to  the  Citizens  of  the  United 

States,  London,  1806,  pp.  37-43 203 

5 1 .  The  Kentucky  and  Virginia  resolutions,  1 798- 1 799 

The  Writings  of  James  Madison,  ed.  G.  HUNT,  Vol.  IX, 

pp.  326-331 205 

ELLIOT,  Debates  (see  No.  42),  Vol.  IV,  p.  545    ....  208 

JEFFERSON,  Works  (see  No.  44),  Vol.  VII,  p.  290     .    .  209 

MADISON,  Works  (see  above),  Vol.  IX,  pp.  444-445     .  209 

52.  Washington,    appeal   to  Patrick  Henry,  January  15, 

1799 

WASHINGTON,  Letters  (privately  printed  by  W.  K. 
Bixby  of  St.  Louis  from  original  manuscripts), 
pp.  96-99 210 

THE  JEFFERSONIAN  POLICIES 

53.  The  discovery  of  the  Columbia  River,  1792 

ROBERT  GREENLOW,  The  History  of  Oregon  and  Cali 
fornia,  appendix,  pp.  434-436 212 

Old  South  Leaflets,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  22-23  (No-  T30      •     •    214 

54.  A  petition  of  the  inhabitants  of  Louisiana,  1 804 

Annals  of  Congress,  8th  Congress,  2d  session  (ed.  1852) 

appendix,  pp.  1597-1608 214 

55.  The  Lewis  and  Clark  expedition,  1803-1806 

Original  Journals  of  the  Lewis  and  Clark  Expedition, 

ed.  R.  G.  THWAITES,  Vol.  VII,  pp.  247-252,  298  .    218 


xvi  Contents 

THE  WAR  OF   1812 

56.  British  and  French  aggressions,  1805-1807 

American    State   Papers,    Foreign    Relations,   Vol.   II, 

PP-  749-750 222 

Ibid.  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  16-19  •     •     •  ' 224 

57.  "Mr.  Clay's  war,"  December  31,  1811 

Annals  of  Congress,  12th  Congress,  ist  session  (ed. 

l853)>  PP-  599-602 227 

58.  Madison's  war  message,  June  i,  1812 

Messages    and   Papers    of  the   Presidents,    ed.    J.    D. 

RICHARDSON,  Vol.  I,  pp.  499-504 229 

PART   IV 

NATIONAL  VERSUS   SECTIONAL  INTERESTS 

CHAPTER  VIII  — THE   GROWTH    OF  A  NATIONAL 
CONSCIOUSNESS 

A  NEW  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

59.  British  opinions  of  America,  1820-1837 

The  Edinburgh  Review,  Vol.  XXXIII,  pp.  78-80  .  .  235 
MRS.  TROLLOPE,  Domestic  Manners  of  the  Americans, 

pp.  140-142,  169-171,  230-232 237 

CAPTAIN  MARRYAT,  A  Diary  in  America,  Vol.  I, 

PP-8-23 239 

60.  The  river  trade  of  New  Orleans,  1816-1840 

United  States  Report  on  Commerce  and  Navigation  for 

1887,  Part  II,  pp.  191-205 241 

61.  The  Supreme  Court  and  the  Constitution,  1816-1824 

United  States  Reports,  \  Wheaton,  324-326,  343-344  ; 

4  Wheaton,  421,  432,  436;  9  Wheaton,  210-211  .    243 
JEFFERSON,  Works  (see  No.  44),  Vol.  X,  pp.  170-171  .    245 


Contents  xvii 

PAGE 

THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

62.  The  Florida  dispute,  1816-1819 

Annals  of  Congress,  i5th  Congress,  2d  session,  appen 
dix,  p.  2153;  ibid.  pp.  2106-2107 246 

American  State  Papers  (see  No.  56),  Vol.  IV,  pp.  539- 

545 248 

63.  The  Monroe  Doctrine,  December  2,  1823 

Messages  and  Papers  (see  No.  58),  Vol.  II,  pp.  208-219    251 

CHAPTER   IX  — SECTIONAL   INTERESTS 

THE  FAVORITE  SONS 

64.  Jockeying  for  the  presidential  race,  1824 

Memoirs  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  241-248, 

261,  265,  292,  332,  333,  464,  465,  483,  501,  504     .    255 

AN  ERA  OF  HARD  FEELING 

65.  Benton's  plea  for  the  occupation  of  Oregon,  1825 

THOMAS  HART  BENTON,   Thirty  Years'  View,  Vol.  I, 

PP-  51-54 259 

THE  "  TARIFF  OF  ABOMINATIONS  " 

66.  The  protest  of  South  Carolina  against  high  tariff,  1828 

The  Works  of  John   C.   Calkoun,  ed.  R.  K.  CRALLE, 

Vol.  VI,  pp.  1-15 262 

CHAPTER  X  — "THE  REIGN  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON" 

NULLIFICATION 

67.  Andrew  Jackson,  constitutional  autocrat 

ALEXIS  DE  TOCQUEVILLE,  Democracy  in  America,  ed. 

F.  Bowen,  1898,  Vol.  I,  pp.  532-533 265 

Messages  and  Papers  (see  No.  58),  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  69-93    267 


xviii  Contents 

68.  The  specter  of  disunion,  1830-1832 

Congressional  Debates,  Vol.  VI,  Part  II  (ed.  1830), 

P-^57 270 

Writings  and  Speeches  of  Daniel  Webster  (National  Edi 
tion,  1903),  Vol.  VI,  pp.  69,  75  . 272 

H.  D.  CAPERS,  Life  and  Times  of  C.  G.  Memminger, 

pp.  46-48 275 

Senate  Documents,  22d  Congress,  2d  session,  No.  30, 

PP.  36-39 .276 

A  NEW  PARTY 

69.  Early  anecdotes  of  the  railroad 

FRANCES  ANNE  BUTLER,  Journal,  Vol.  I,  pp.  161-172    278 
HARRIET   MARTINEAU,  'Society  in  America,   Vol.  II, 

PP-  7-13 280 


70.  Labor  unrest  in  the  thirties 


McMasteSs  Histor)>  (see  No.  45),  Vol.  VII,  pp.  220-223    282 
Dociimentary  History  of  American  Industrial  Societv, 

ed.  COMMONS  and  SUMNER,  Vol.  V,  pp.  303-305 ; 

Vol.  VI,  pp.  87-90  ;  Vol.  V,  pp.  61-63  .    .    ,    .    .284 


PART  V 

SLAVERY  AND  THE  WEST 

'•  •  s   '  • 

CHAPTER  XI  — THE   GATHERING   CLOUD 

THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE 

71.  The  petition  of  the  Georgia  colonists  for  slavery,  1 738 

PETER    FORCE,    Tracts   (see   No.  12),  Vol.  J,  No.  4, 

PP- 37-41 .'  .    .    .    .    291 

72.  The  debate  on  the  Missouri  Compromise,  1820 

American  Orations,  ed.  JoHNSTON-WoODBURN,  Vol.  II, 

PP- 34-62 294 


Contents  xix 


Annals  of  Congress,  i6th  Congress,  ist  session,  Vol.  I, 

pp.  391-415   ...............    299 

THE  ABOLITIONISTS 

73.  A  report  from  Liberia,  1828 

The  African  Repository  and  Colonial  Journal,  Vol.  V, 

PP-  3-9  .................    301 

74.  The  "  peculiar  institution  " 

(a)  HEZEKIAH  NILES,  The  Weekly  Register,  Vol.  XXVII, 

p.  264  .................    305 

(b)  Executive  Documents,  iQth  Congress,  2d  session, 

Vol.  IV,  p.  69,  No.  59      ..........    307 

(c)  Senate   Documents,    2oth    Congress,    ist    session, 

Vol.  Ill,  pp.  10-11,  No.  81  .........    307 

(d)  D.  F.  HOUSTON,  A  Critical  Study  of  Nullification 

in  South  Carolina,  pp.  51-52    ........     309 

ALEXIS  DE  TOCQUEVILLE  (see  No.  67),  Vol.  I,  pp.  486- 

49°  •    •    •    •    ..............    309 

CHAPTER  XII—  TEXAS 

THE  "  REOCCUPATION  "  OF  OREGON  AND  THE  "  REANNEXA- 
TION  "  OF  TEXAS 

75.  British  interference  in  Texas,  1843-1844 

CALHOUN,  Works  (see  No.  66),  Vol.  V,  pp.  315-336    .    312 

76.  An  abolitionist  on  annexation,  January  22,  1845 

J.    R.    GIDDINGS,    Speeches    in    Congress    (ed.    1853), 

PP.  123-147".  .  v  :  ...  :  .........  318 

77.  Benton's  attack  on  the  "  Fifty-four-Forties,"  May  22, 

i846"  . 
Congressional     Globe,    29th     Congress,     ist    session, 

PP-  851-862  .  "  .  -.  ".  ",T.  •:.-.•  -.-  ':.'..  .  j  .  ".  "  .-.  :••'  :  .  322 

MEXICAN  WAR  *  r  r 

78.  Leaves  from  Folk's  "  Diary  "  :  the  Mexican  War,  1  846- 

18^48 
JAMES  K.  POLK,  Diary,  ed.  M.  Quaife,  Vol.  I,  pp.  9,  33, 

34,  93»  164,  3I9,  363,  375,  382,  387,  390,.  394,  397      328 


xx  Contents 

CHAPTER  XIII  — THE  COMPROMISE  OF  1850 

PAGE 

THE  NEW  TERRITORY 

79.  The  gold  seekers,  1 849 

WALTER  COLTON,  Three  Years  in  California,  pp.  242- 

29° 335 

H.   H.   BANCROFT,   California  inter  Pocula;   Works, 

Vol.  XXXV,  pp.  73-74 339 

THE  OMNIBUS  BILL 

So.  Ichabod:  ("  where  is  the  glory  ?  "),  March  7,  1850 

WEBSTER,  Works  (see  No.  68),  Vol.  X,  pp.  57-98     .    .    341 
JOHN  GREENLEAF  WHITTIER,  "  Ichabod,"  in  Songs  of 

Labor,  etc.  (ed.  1850),  pp.  93-94 344 

THE  FOUR  YEARS'  TRUCE 

81.  The  secession  movement  of  1850 

State  Documents  on  Federal  Relations,  ed.  H.  V.  AMES, 

pp.  254-258  .  .  .  • 346 

Correspondence  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  ed.  J.  F.  JAMESON, 
in  Annual  Report  of  American  Historical  Associa 
tion,  1899,  Vol.  II,  pp.  762-763,  775-776, 1210-1212  348 

H.V.  AMES  (see  above),  pp.  271-272 351 

82.  The  Ostend  Manifesto,  October  18,  1854 

House  Executive  Documents,  33d  Congress,  2d  session, 

No.  93 353 

PART  VI 

THE  CRISIS  OF  DISUNION 
CHAPTER  XIV  — APPROACHING  THE  CRISIS 

THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE  AND  THE  FOR 
MATION  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY 

83.  The  origin  of  "  squatter  sovereignty,"  December  24, 

1847 
NILES,  Register  (see  No.  74),  Vol.  LXXIII,  pp.  293-294    359 


Contents  xxi 

PAGE 

84.  Fugitive  slaves 

Acts  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia,  1849-1850, 

RICHMOND  (ed.  1850),  pp.  248-250 361 

Documentary  History,  etc.,  ed.  U.  B.  PHILLIPS  (see 

No.  70),  Vol.  II,  p.  75 363 

Life  and  Times  of  Frederick  Douglass,  from  1817  to 

1882,  Written  by  Himself,  pp.  245-249  ....  364 

"  A  HOUSE  DIVIDED  AGAINST  ITSELF  " 

85.  The  "  Bogus  Legislature"  of  Kansas,  1855 

G.  D.  BREWERTON,  Wars  of  the  Western  Border, 

pp.  284-289 367 

House  Reports,  34th  Congress,  ist  session,  Vol.  II, 

pp.  894-897 t 371 

CHARLES  ROBINSON,  The  Kansas  Conflict,  pp.  114-116    372 

86.  The  gist  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  March  6,  1857 

United  States  Reports,  19  Howard,  404-405,  408,  449, 

451,  452,  464 373 

CHAPTER  XV— SECESSION 

THE  ELECTION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

87.  The  Republican  standard,  1860-1861 

J.   G.  NICOLAY  and  JOHN   HAY,  Abraham  Lincoln, 

Vol.  II,  pp.  221-224 378 

Messages  and  Papers  (see  No.  58),  Vol.  VI,  pp.  5-12  .    381 

88.  The  Chicago  convention,  May  16-18,  1860 

MURAT  HALSTEAD,  A  History  of  the  National  Political 

Conventions  of  1860,  pp.  121-154 384 

89.  A  Southerner's  plea  for  union,  November  14,  1860 

ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS,  A  Constitutional  View 
of  the  Late  War  between  the  States,  Vol.  II, 
pp.  280-300 388 

THE  SOUTHERN  CONFEDERACY 

90.  "  The  crime  of  the  North,"  January,  1861 

The  Atlantic  Monthly,  Vol.  VII.  pp.  118-121  ....     391 


xxii  Contents 

PAGE 

91.  Secession:    its  justification   and  its  accomplishment, 

December,  1860 

The  Correspondence  of  Robert  Toombs,  Alexander  H. 
Stephens,  and  Howell  Cobb,  ed.  U.  B.  PHILLIPS  in 
Annual  Report  of  the  American  Historical  Asso 
ciation,  191 1,  Vol.  II,  pp.  51 1-518  ......  394 

War  of  the  Rebellion,  Official  Records  of  the  Union 

arid  Confederate  Armies,  Series  I,  Vol.  I,  p.  112  .  398 

FRANK  MOORE,  Rebellion  Records,  Vol.  I,  Documents, 

pp.  19-20 399 

THE  FALL  OF  FORT  SUMTER 

92.  The  bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter,  April  12-14,  X86i 

ABNER  DOUBLEDAY,  Reminiscences  of  Fort^Sumter 

and  Moiiltrie,  pp.  141-175 401 


CHAPTER  XVI  — THE   CIVIL  WAR 
THE  OPPOSING  FORCES 

93.  War  measures  from  April  to  August,  1861 

(a)  United  States  Statutes  at  Large,  Vol.  XII,  p.  1258  .  408 

(b)  Ibid.  pp.  1258-1259 409 

(c)  Ibid.  pp.  259-261 411 

(d)  House  Journal,  37th  Congress,  ist  session,  No.  123  412 

(e)  United  States  Statutes  at  Large,  Vol.  XII,  p.  319   .  412 

FROM  BULL  RUN  TO  GETTYSBURG 

94.  The   British  view  of   the  Trent  affair,   November- 

December,  1 86 1 

LORD  NEWTON,  Lord  Lyons,  a  Record  of  British  Diplo- 

macy,  Vol.  I,  pp.  55-57,  61-62 414 

Massachusetts  Historical  Society's  Proceedings,  1911- 

1912,  Vol.  XLV,  pp.  148-157 417 

95.  Pen  pictures  of  the  war 

SARAH  M.  DAWSON,  A  Confederate  Girl's  Diary, 

pp.  16-46,  308 421 

HELEN  D.  LONGSTREET,  Lee  and  Longstreet  at  High- 
tide,  pp.  50-52 425 

J.  S.  WISE,  The  End  of  an  Era,  pp.  346-356  .     ...    427 


Contents  xxiii 

PAGE 

THE  TRIUMPH  OF  THE  NORTH 

96.  Change  in  the  fortunes  of  the  Confederacy,  April- 

December,  1863 

Messages   and  Papers    of  the    Confederacy,   ed.   J.    D. 

RICHARDSON,  Vol.  I,  pp.  331-335,  345,  381-382  .    430 

97.  A  Confederate  embassy,  February  3,  1865 

STEPHENS,  War  between  the  States  (see  No.  89),  Vol.  II, 

pp.  599-618 435 

98.  The  surrender  at  Appomattox,  April  9,  1865 

Personal  Memoirs  of  U.  S.  Grant,  Vol.  II,  pp.  489-498  ; 

appendix,  pp.  625,  626 440 

99.  Poetical  tributes  to  Abraham  Lincoln 

WALT  WHITMAN,  Leaves  of  Grass  (ed.  1907),  pp.  262- 

263 .  445 

London  Punch,  Vol.  XLVIII,  p.  182 446 

JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL,  Works  (Riverside  ed.), 

Vol.  X,  pp.  22-24 448 

EDWIN  MARKHAM,  Lincoln  and  Other  Poems,  pp.  1-3  449 

PART  VII 

THE  POLITICAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL   HISTORY  OF 
THE  REPUBLIC   SINCE  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

CHAPTER  XVII— TWENTY  YEARS  OF  REPUBLICAN 
SUPREMACY 

RECONSTRUCTION 

100.  A  Southerner's  advice  to  President  Johnson  on  recon 

struction,  June  14,  1865 

Johnson  Manuscripts,  in  Library  of  Congress,  Wash 
ington,  D.C 453 

101.  The  Reconstruction  Act,  March  2,  1867 

United  States  Statutes  at  Large,  Vol.  XIV,  pp.  428-429    458 


xxiv  Contents 

PAGE 

1 02.  Ku-Klux  testimony,  1871 

Kii-Klux  Conspiracy,  Report  of  Joint  Select  Committee, 
Washington,  1872,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  304-316;  Vol.  VII, 
pp.  668-670 461 

THE  AFTERMATH  OF  THE  WAR 

103.  The  liberal  Republican  movement  of  1872 

APPLETON,  Annual  American    Cyclopedia,  Vol.  XII, 

P-  552 468 

CARL  SCHURZ,  Speeches,  Correspondence,  Political 
Papers,  ed.  Frederick  Bancroft,  Vol.  II,  pp.  354- 
36i 470 

104.  The  "  indirect  damage  humbug  " 

Works    of    Charles    Sumner    (ed.    1880),    Vol.   XIII, 

PP-  59-86 473 

Messages  and  Papers  (see  No.  58),  Vol.  VII,  p.  102      .  477 

W.  M.  STEWART,  Reminiscences,  pp.  177-179.    .    .    .  478 

A  NEW  INDUSTRIAL  AGE 

105.  The  farmer  and  the  railroad 

Documentary  History,  etc.,  ed.  COMMONS  and  AN 
DREWS  (see  No.  70),  Vol.  X,  pp.  42-45,  63-66  .  480 

106.  The  resumption  of  specie  payment,  1869-1878 

Congressional     Globe,    4Oth     Congress,    3d    session, 

Part  I,  pp.  626-630 485 

Ibid.  42d  Congress,  3d  session,  Part  I,  p.  627      .    .     .    490 
JOHN  SHERMAN,  Recollections  of  Forty  Years,  Vol.  II, 

p.  628 493 

107.  Elaine's  tribute  to  Garfield,  February  27,  1882 

Memorial    Address,     Government     Printing     Office, 

Washington,  1882 494 

1 08.  The  merit  system 

Senate  Reports,  47th  Congress  (1882),  No.  567     ...    499 
United  States  Stattites  at  Large,  Vol.  XXII,  pp.  403-407     502 

109.  The  Democratic  platform  and  candidate,  1884 

EDWARD    STANWOOD,  A  History  of  the  Presidency, 

Vol.  I,  pp.  434-440 5°5 

The  Nation,  July  17,  1884,  Vol.  XXXIX,  p.  46    .    .    .     507 


Contents  xxv 

CHAPTER  XVIII  — THE   CLEVELAND   DEMOCRACY 

A  PEOPLE'S  PRESIDENT 

no.  The  tariff  message  of  1887 

Messages  and  Papers  (see  No.  58),  Vol.  VIII,  pp.  580- 

59i 5" 

New    York  Daily    Tribune,  December  8,  1887,  p.  i, 

coL  5 515 

A  BILLION  DOLLAR  COUNTRY 
in.  The  new  South 

HENRY  W.  GRADY,  His  Life,  Writings,  and  Speeches, 

ed.  J.  C.  Harris,  appendix,  pp.  105-112    ....     518 

112.  The  hurricane  at  Samoa,  March  15-16,  1889 

ROBERT  Louis  STEVENSON,  A  Footnote  to  History,  in 
Works  (Scribner's  edition,  1896),  Vol.  XIX, 

PP-  541-554 522 

New   York  Sunday   Times,  March  31,  1889,  editorial 

Page 525 

PROBLEMS  OF  CLEVELAND'S  SECOND  TERM 

113.  The  Chicago  strike  of  1894 

Chicago  Daily  Herald,  June  26,  1894 526 

GROVER  CLEVELAND,  Presidential  Problems,  pp.  109- 

"3 529 

1 14.  Twisting  the  British  lion's  tail :  the  Venezuela  affair, 

1895 

Accounts  and  Papers,  State  Papers,  Vol.  XLIX, 
Correspondence  relating  to  the  Question  of 
the  Boundary  of  British  Guiana,  London,  1896, 
PP-  *3~24 533 

GROVER  CLEVELAND  (see  No.  113),  pp.  269-273    .    .    538 

Saturday  Review,  London,  December  21,  1895,  Vol. 

LXXX,  p.  821 540 

National  Review,  London,  January,  1896,  Vol.  XXVI, 

PP-  573-574 54i 

115.  Bryan's  "cross  of  gold"  speech,  July  9,  1896 

\V.  J.  BRYAN,  The  First  Battle,  pp.  199-206     ....     542 


xxvi  Contents 

CHAPTER  XIX  — ENTERING   THE   TWENTIETH 
CENTURY 

PAGE 

THE  SPANISH  WAR  AND  THE  PHILIPPINES 

1 1 6.  The  case  against  imperialism 

The  Nation,  Vol.  LXXIII,  p.  4 546 

House  Documents,  55th  Congress,  3d  session,  Vol.  I, 

No.  i,  Foreign  Relations,  pp.  934-935  ....  549 
MOORFIELD  STOREY,  What  shall  we  do  with  our 

Dependencies?  pp.  I,  2,  5,  6,  9-11,  51-54,  60    .     .     551 

THE  ROOSEVELT  POLICIES 

117.  The  Hay-Bunau-Varilla  Treaty,  November  18,  1903 

Senate  Documents,  6ist  Congress,  2d  session,  No. 
357,  Treaties,  Conventions,  etc.,  Vol.  II,  pp. 
1349-1357 556 

118.  Roosevelt's  speech  to  the  governors,  May  13,  1908 

Proceedings  of  a  Conference  of  Governors,  May  13-15, 

1908,  Government  Printing  Office,  Washington, 

1909,  pp.  viii-ix,  3-12 560 

THE  RETURN  OF  THE  DEMOCRATS 

119.  The  trusts:  causes  and  remedies 

Hoiise  Documents,  57th  Congress,  ist  session,  No.  182, 
Report  of  the  Industrial  Commission  on  Trusts, 
etc.,  Vol.  XIII,  pp.  v,  vii,  xvii,  xxx,  xxxiii-xxxv  .  566 

1 20.  Wilson's  Mexican  policy  of  "  watchful  waiting  " 

Congressional    Record,    63d    Congress,     ist    session, 

P- 3803 ;  2 d  session,  pp.  6908-6909 571 

New  York  Times,  March  26,  1916 575 

CHAPTER  XX  — AMERICA  AND  THE  WORLD  W7AR 

NEUTRALITY 

121.  The  typewriter  vs.  the  torpedo 

Department  of  State,  Diplomatic  Correspondence, 
European  War  Series,  No.  i,  pp.  54,  75;  No.  3, 
P- 241 577 


Contents  xxvii 

PAGE 

122.  President  Wilson  accepts  the  gage  of  battle 

House  Document,  No.  i,  65th  Congress,  ist  session    .    581 

PARTICIPATION 

123.  The  Americans  at  St.  Mihiel 

Final  Report  of  General  John  J.  Pershing,  Commander- 
in- Chief  of  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces , 
Washington  Printing  Office,  1919,  pp.  38-43  .  .  584 

PROBLEMS  OF  PEACE 

1 24.  Labor  and  the  war 

The  Nation,  issue  of  June  14,  1919 586 

The  Monthly  Labor  Review,  United  States  Department 

of  Labor,  May,  1919 588 

Congressional  Record,  66th  Congress,  ist  session, 

Part  I,  p.  41 590 

INDEX 593 


READINGS  IN  AMERICAN 
HISTORY 

PART  I.    THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF 
THE  ENGLISH 


PART  I.    THE   ESTABLISHMENT 
OF  THE   ENGLISH 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  NEW  WORLD 

THE  DISCOVERY  OF  AMERICA 

Although  Ptolemy's  "  Geography,"  which  was  regarded  i.  Geography 
as  the  highest  authority,  perpetuated  through  the  Middle 
Ages  the  tradition  that  the  western  boundary  of  the  world 
was  the  "  River  Ocean,"  into  whose  forbidden  waters  dar 
ing  sailors  sometimes  ventured  through  the  Pillars  of  Her 
cules  (the  Strait  of  Gibraltar),  nevertheless  hints  occur  in 
ancient  as  well  as  in  mediaeval  writers  that  these  waters 
were  the  same  as  those  which  washed  the  eastern  coast 
of  Asia,  and  that  new  lands  might  be  found  to  the  west  of 
the  Pillars  of  Hercules.  Strabo,  a  Greek  geographer  of 
the  first  century  A.D.,  says  : 

The  temperate  zone  makes  a  continuous  circle  by  uniting  with 
itself,  so  that,  if  the  great  size  of  the  western  sea  did  not  prevent, 
we  might  sail  from  Spain  to  India  on  the  same  parallel  [of  lati 
tude]  .  .  .  and  it  is  possible  that  within  the  same  temperate  zone 
there  may  be  two  or  even  three  inhabited  lands,  and  particularly 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  parallel  drawn  through  Athens. 

Shortly  after  Strabo,  the  Roman  philosopher  and  poet 
Seneca  (3  B.C.-63  A.D.)  wrote  the  following  prophetic  lines 
in  his  play '"  Medea  ": 

In  late  years  the  time  will  come  when  Ocean  will  loose  the 
bands  of  nature,  and  the  earth  will  stretch  out  huge,  and  the 

3 


4  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

sea  will  disclose  new  worlds,  nor  will  Thule  [the  northern  British 
islands]  be  the  last  [remotest]  of  lands. 

Only  a  few  years  before  Columbus  sailed,  a  Florentine 
poet,  named  Pulci,  wrote  the  following  striking  prophecy 

of  a  western  voyage  : 

...  his  bark 

The  daring  mariner  shall  urge  far  o'er 
The  western  wave,  a  smooth  and  level  plain. 

And  Hercules  might  blush  to  learn  how  far 
Beyond  the  limits J  he  had  vainly  set 
The  dullest  sea-craft  soon  shall  wing  her  way. 
We  shall  descry  another  hemisphere. 

At  our  antipodes  are  cities,  states, 

And  thronged  empires  ne'er  divined  of  yore. 

The  following  extract  shows  how  ecclesiastical  authority 
discouraged  scientific  speculation  and  experimentation  in 
the  Middle  Ages.  Ambrose,  Archbishop  of  Milan  and 
one  of  the  four  great  fathers  of  the  Latin  Church,  warns 
his  generation  of  the  futility  of  scientific  inquisitiveness 
in  these  words  (389  A.D.)  : 

To  discuss  the  nature  and  position  of  the  earth  does  not  help 
us  in  our  hope  of  the  life  to  come.  It  is  enough  to  know  what 
Scripture  states,  that  "  He  hung  up  the  earth  on  nothing " 
(Job  xxvi,  7).  Why  then  argue  whether  He  hung  it  up  in  air 
or  upon  the  water,  and  raise  a  controversy  as  to  how  thin  air 
could  sustain  the  earth ;  or  why,  if  upon  water  the  earth  does 
not  go  plunging  down  to  the  bottom.  .  .  .  The  earth  endures 
stable  upon  the  unstable  and  void  because  the  majesty  of  God 
sustains  it  by  the  law  of  His  will. 

At  no  time  during  the  Middle  Ages  did  educated  men 
lose  the  tradition,  derived  from  the  ancient  Greeks,  that 

1  The  Pillars  of  Hercules,  or  Strait  of  Gibraltar. 


The  New  World  5 

the  earth  was  a  sphere.  "  The  Venerable  Bede  "  of  North- 
umbria,  the  first  of  the  English  historians,  declared  in  his 
work  "On  the  Nature  of  Things,"  in  the  eighth  century, 
that  "  the  earth  ...  is  not  perfectly  round,  owing  to  the 
inequalities  of  mountains  and  plains,"  but  that,  "  if  all  its 
lines  be  considered,  it  has  the  perfect  form  of  a  sphere  " 
(ch.  xlvi).  In  an  Anglo-Saxon  treatise  of  the  tenth  cen 
tury,  based  on  Bede,  we  read  : 

On  the  second  day  God  made  the  heaven,  which  is  called  the 
firmament,  which  is  visible  and  corporeal ;  and  yet  we  may  never 
see  it  on  account  of  its  great  elevation  and  the  thickness  of  the 
clouds,  and  on  account  of  the  weakness  of  our  eyes.  The  heaven 
encloses  in  its  bosom  all  the  world,  and  it  ever  turns  about  us, 
swifter  than  any  mill-wheel,  all  as  deep  under  this  earth  as  it 
is  above.  It  is  all  round  and  entire  and  studded  with  stars. 

Truly  the  sun  goes  by  God's  command  between  heaven  and 
earth,  by  day  above  and  by  night  under  the  earth.  .  .  .  The  sun 
is  very  great :  as  broad  she  is,  from  what  books  say,  as  the 
whole  compass  of  the  earth ;  but  she  appears  to  us  very  small, 
because  she  is  far  from  our  sight.  .  .  .  The  moon  and  all  the 
stars  receive  light  from  the  great  sun.  .  .  . 

Another  Englishman,  Alexander  of  Neckam,  writing  at 
the  close  of  the  twelfth  century,  gives  us  the  following 
description  of  the  compass  : 

The  sailors,  as  they  sail  over  the  sea,  when  in  cloudy  weather 
they  can  no  longer  profit  by  the  light  of  the  sun,  or  when  the 
world  is  wrapped  in  the  darkness  of  night,  and  they  are  igno 
rant  whither  the  ship's  course  is  directed,  touch  a  needle  to  the 
magnet ;  the  needle  will  then  whirl  around  in  a  circle  until,  when 
its  motion  ceases,  its  point  is  directed  to  the  north. 

The  voyages  of  Columbus  roused  tremendous  enthusi-  2.  The 
asm  among  his  contemporaries.  Mr.  Henri  Harrisse  has  Aprifi 
collected  five  hundred  and  seventy  titles  of  histories,  [4] 


6  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

poems,  plays,  prophecies,  letters,  and  narratives  written  by 
the  men  of  Columbus'  day,  dealing  with  the  great  nav 
igator's  achievement.  Another  scholar,  Justin  Winsor. 
notes  over  sixty  existing  authentic  writings  of  Columbus 
himself.  The  "Capitulation,"  or  terms  of  agreement 
between  Columbus  and  the  Spanish  sovereigns,  signed  at 
Granada,  April  17,  1492,  were  as  follows  : 

The  things  supplicated  which  your  Highnesses  give  and  de 
clare  to  Christopher  Columbus  in  some  satisfaction  for  what  he 
is  to  discover  in  the  oceans,  and  for  the  voyage  which  now, 
with  the  aid  of  God,  he  is  about  to  make  therein  in  the  service 
of  your  Highnesses,  are  as  follows :  — 

First,  that  your  Highnesses  as  Lords  that  are  of  the  said 
oceans  make  from  this  time  the  said  Don  Christopher  Columbus 
your  Admiral  in  all  those  islands  and  mainlands  which  by  his 
hand  and  industry  shall  be  discovered  or  acquired  in  the  said 
oceans  during  his  life,  and  after  his  death  his  heirs  and  succes 
sors,  from  one  to  another  perpetually.  .  .  . 

Likewise,  that  your  Highnesses  make  the  said  Don  Christo 
pher  your  Viceroy  and  Governor  General  in  all  the  said  islands 
and  mainlands,  .  .  .  and  that  for  the  government  of  each  one 
and  of  any  one  of  them,  he  may  make  selection  of  three  per 
sons  for  each  office,  and  that  your  Highnesses  may  choose  and 
select  the  one  who  may  be  most  serviceable  to  you.  .  .  . 

Item,  that  all  and  whatever  merchandise,  whether  it  be  pearls, 
precious  stones,  gold,  silver,  spices,  and  other  things  whatso 
ever  .  .  .  which  may  be  bought,  bartered,  discovered,  acquired, 
or  obtained  within  the  limits  of  the  said  Admiralty,  your  High 
nesses  grant  henceforth  to  said  Don  Christopher,  and  will  that 
he  may  have  and  take  for  himself  the  tenth  part  of  all  of  them 
.  .  .  the  other  nine  parts  remaining  for  your  Highnesses.  .  .  . 

Item,  that  in  all  the  vessels  which  may  be  equipped  for  the 
said  traffic  .  .  .  the  said  Admiral  may  if  he  wishes  contribute 
and  pay  the  eighth  part  of  all  that  may  be  expended  in  the 
equipment ;  and  also  that  he  may  have  and  take  of  the  profit  the 
eighth  part  of  all  which  may  result  from  such  equipment.  .  .  . 


The  New  World  7 

These  are  executed  and  despatched  with  the  responses  of 

your  Highnesses   at   the   end   of   each  article  in  the  town  of 

'Santa  Fe  de  la  Vega  de  Granada,  on  the  i;th  day  of  April,  in 

the  year  of  the  nativity  of  our  Savior  Jesus  Christ  1492.    I,  the 

King.    I,  the  Queen.    By  order  of  the  King  and  of  the  Queen. 

John  de  Coloma.  Registered,  Catena. 

The  first  official   account  of  the   immortal  voyage  of  3.  Columbus' 

,        /^   i        i  letter  to  Luis 

1492   is  contained   in   a   letter  written   by  Columbus  on  de  Santangei, 


February  15,  1493,  when  he  was  off  one  of  the  Azores 
in  his  tiny  caravel,  the  Nina,  on  his  way  back  to  Spain. 
The  letter  was  addressed  to  Luis  de  Santangei,  one  of 
King  Ferdinand's  courtiers. 

SIR  :  As  I  know  that  you  will  have  pleasure  from  the  great 
victory  which  our  Lord  hath  given  me  in  my  voyage,  I  write 
you  this  by  which  you  shall  know  that  in  thirty-three  days  I 
passed  over  to  the  Indies  with  the  fleet  which  the  most  illustri 
ous  King  and  Queen,  our  Lords,  gave  me  ;  where  I  found  very 
many  islands  peopled  with  inhabitants  beyond  number.  And  of 
them  all  I  have  taken  possession  for  their  Highnesses,  with 
proclamation  and  the  royal  standard  displayed  ;  and  I  was  not 
gainsaid.  To  the  first  which  I  found  I  gave  the  name  Sant 
Salvador,  in  commemoration  of  His  High  Majesty  who  hath 
marvelously  given  all  this  :  the  Indians  call  it  Guanaham.  The 
second  I  named  the  Island  of  Santa  Maria  de  Concepcion,  the 
third  Ferrandina,  the  fourth  Isabella,  the  fifth  La  Isla  Juana.1  .  .  . 
When  I  reached  Juana,  I  followed  its  coast  westwardly  and 
found  it  so  large  that  I  thought  it  might  be  mainland,  the 
province  of  Cathay.  And  as  I  did  not  thus  find  any  towns  or 
villages  on  the  sea-coast,  save  small  hamlets  with  the  people  of 
which  I  could  not  get  speech,  because  they  all  fled  away  forth 
with,  I  went  on  further  in  the  same  direction,  thinking  I  should 
not  miss  of  great  cities  or  towns.  ...  I  sent  two  men  into  the 
country  to  learn  if  there  were  a  king  or  any  great  cities.  They 

i  Cuba. 


8  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

travelled  for  three  days  and  found  innumerable  small  villages 
and  a  numberless  population  but  nought  of  ruling  authority.  .  . . 
I  followed  the  coast  eastwardly  for  a  hundred  and  seven  leagues  < 
as  far  as  where  it  terminated ;  from  which  headland  I  saw 
another  island  to  the  east  ...  to  which  I  at  once  gave  the  name 
La  Spanola.1  .  .  .  The  lands  are  all  most  beautiful  .  .  .  and  full 
of  trees  of  a  thousand  kinds,  so  lofty  that  they  seem  to  reach 
the  sky.  And  I  am  assured  that  they  never  lose  their  foliage ; 
as  may  be  imagined,  since  I  saw  them  as  green  and  as  beautiful 
as  they  are  in  Spain  during  May.  .  .  .  And  the  nightingale  was 
singing,  and  other  birds  of  a  thousand  sorts,  in  the  month  of 
November.  ...  In  the  earth  are  many  mines  of  metals ;  and 
there  is  a  population  of  incalculable  number.  .  .  .  The  people 
have  no  other  weapons  than  the  stems  of  reeds  in  their  seeding 
state,  on  the  end  of  which  they  fix  little  sharpened  stakes.  Even 
these  they  dare  not  use ;  for  many  times  has  it  happened 
that  I  sent  two  or  three  men  ashore  to  some  village  to  parley, 
and  countless  numbers  of  them  sallied  forth,  but  as  soon  as 
they  saw  those  approach  they  fled  away  in  such  wise  that  even 
a  father  would  not  wait  for  his  son.  And  this  was  not  because 
any  hurt  had  ever  been  done  to  any  of  them :  —  on  the  con 
trary,  at  every  headland  where  I  have  .  .  .  been  able  to  hold 
speech  with  them,  I  gave  them  everything  that  I  had,  as  well 
cloth  as  many  other  things,  without  accepting  aught  therefore ; 
—  but  such  they  are,  incurably  timid.  .  .  .  They  are  straight- 
ways  content  with  whatsoever  trifle  of  whatsoever  kind  be  given 
them  in  return  for  it  [their  gold  and  cotton].  And  I  forbade 
that  anything  so  worthless  as  fragments  of  broken  platters  and 
pieces  of  broken  glass  and  strap  buckles  should  be  given  them. 
.  .  .  They  believed  very  firmly  that  I,  with  these  ships  and 
crews,  came  from  the  sky.  .  .  .  Wherever  I  arrived  they  went 
running  from  house  to  house  and  to  the  neighboring  villages,  with 
loud  cries  of  "  Come  !  come  to  see  the  people  from  Heaven  !  " 
.  .  .  This  is  a  land  to  be  desired, —  and  once  seen,  never  to  be 
relinquished,  —  in  which,  in  a  place  most  suitable  and  best  for 
its  proximity  to  the  gold  mines  and  for  traffic  with  the  mainland 

1  Hispaniola  or  Hayti. 


The  New  World  9 

both  on  this  side  [Europe]  and  with  that  yonder  belonging  to 
the  Great  Can  [China],  I  took  possession  of  a  large  town,  which 
I  named  the  city  of  Navidad.  And  I  have  made  fortification 
there  .  .  .  and  I  have  left  therein  men  enough,  with  arms  and 
artillery  and  provisions  for  more  than  a  year  .  .  .  and  a  great 
friendship  with  the  king  of  that  land,  to  such  a  degree  that 
he  prided  himself  on  calling  and  holding  me  as  his  brother.  .  .  . 
In  another  island,  which  they  assure  me  is  larger  than  Espafiola, 
the  people  have  no  hair.  In  this  there  is  incalculable  gold  ;  and 
concerning  this  and  the  rest  I  bring  Indians  with  me  as  wit 
nesses.  .  .  .  And  I  believe  that  I  have  discovered  rhubarb  and 
cinnamon,  and  I  shall  find  that  the  men  whom  I  am  leaving 
there  will  have  discovered  a  thousand  other  things  of  value.  .  .  . 
And  in  truth  I  should  have  done  much  more  if  the  ships  had 
served  me  as  well  as  might  reasonably  have  been  expected.  .  .  . 
Since  thus  our  Redeemer  has  given  to  our  most  illustrious  King 
and  Queen,  and  to  their  famous  kingdoms,  this  victory  in  so 
high  a  matter,  Christendom  should  have  rejoicing  therein,  and 
make  great  festivals  and  give  solemn  thanks  to  the  Holy  Trinity 
for  the  great  exaltation  they  shall  have  by  the  conversion  of 
so  many  peoples  to  our  holy  faith  ;  and  next  for  the  tempo 
ral  benefit  which  will  bring  hither  refreshment  and  profit,  not 
only  to  Spain  but  to  all  Christians.  This  briefly,  in  accord 
ance  with  the  facts.  Dated  on  the  caravel  off  the  Canary 
Islands,  the  15  February  of  the  year  1493 

At  your  command 

The  Admiral 

The  last  years  of  Columbus'  life  were  clouded  with  dis-  4.  Columbus 
appointment,  poverty,  and  sickness.   He  was  greedy  of  both 


fame  and  gold.    He  had  written  to  his  sovereigns  on  the  Dieg°»  De~ 

.  cemberi,i5o<| 

return  from  his  fourth  and  last  voyage  to  the  Indies  (i  503)  . 

praising  gold  like  a  miser.  Now,  a  year  later,  he  writes  to 
his  son  Diego,  who  is  at  the  court.  His  revenues  of  "  tenths 
and  eighths  "  have  not  been  given  him  (No.  2,  p.  6)  ;  the 
trade  of  the  Indies  has  been  seized  by  covetous  rivals.  He 
hopes  in  the  justice  of  "  the  Queen  our  Lady  "  to  remedy 


IO  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

his  wrongs.  But  four  days  before  his  letter  was  penned 
Queen  Isabella  had  died  (November  26,  1 504).  Two  years 
later  (May  20,  1 506)  the  great  admiral  died  in  poverty  and 
obscurity  at  Valladolid.  The  letter  to  Diego  follows  : 

Very  dear  Son : 

Since  I  received  your  letter  of  Nov.  15!  have  heard  nothing 
from  you.  I  wish  that  you  would  write  me  more  frequently.  .  .  . 
Many  couriers  come  daily  and  the  news  is  of  such  a  nature  that 
in  hearing  it  all  my  hair  stands  on  end,  it  is  so  contrary  to  what 
my  soul  desires.  May  it  please  the  Holy  Trinity  to  give  health 
to  the  Queen  our  Lady  that  she  may  settle  what  has  been  placed 
under  discussion.  ...  It  appears  to  me  that  a  good  copy  should 
be  made  of  the  chapter  of  that  letter  which  their  Highnesses 
wrote  me,  where  they  say  they  will  fulfil  their  promises  to  me 
and  will  place  you  in  possession  of  everything ;  and  that  this 
copy  should  be  given  to  them  with  another  writing  telling  of 
my  sickness  and  that  it  is  now  impossible  for  me  to  go  and 
kiss  their  Royal  feet  and  hands,  and  that  the  Indies  are  being 
lost  and  are  on  fire  in  a  thousand  places,  and  that  I  have  re 
ceived  nothing  and  am  receiving  nothing  from  the  revenues 
derived  from  them  .  .  .  and  that  I  am  living  upon  borrowed 
funds.  .  .  .  We  must  strive  to  obtain  the  government  of  the 
Indies  and  then  the  adjustment  of  the  revenues.  .  .  .  Today  is 
Monday.  I  will  endeavor  to  have  your  uncle  and  brother  start 
[for  the  court,  to  "  kiss  the  hands  "  of  the  sovereigns]  tomorrow. 
Remember  to  write  me  very  often.  .  .  .  May  our  Lord  have 
you  in  His  holy  keeping 

Done  at  Seville,  December  i 

Your  father  who  loves  you  as  himself 

S 

S  A  S 
X  M  Y 
Xpo  Ferens * 

1  An  enigmatical  anagram  with  which  Columbus  usually  signed  his 
letters.  For  conjectures  as  to  its  meaning  see  Thacher,  Christopher 
Columbus,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  454-458. 


The  New  World  1  1 


A  CENTURY  OF  EXPLORATION 

Anthoyne  Pigapheta,  a  knight  of  Rhodes,  finding  him-  5.  Magei 
self  in  Spain  "  in  the  year  of  the  Nativity  of  our  Lord 


1519,"  out  of  sheer  curiosity  ("to  experiment  and  go  and  world> 
see  with  mine  own  eyes  a  part  of  the  awful  things  of        ,1 
ocean  ")  joined  the  expedition  of  Magellan  that  was  destined 
to  make  the  first  voyage  around  the  world.    On  his  return 
to  Lisbon  in  1  522,  Pigapheta  sent  to  his  Lord  Philip,  Grand 
Master  of  Rhodes,  a  long  letter  recounting  his  ample  ex 
perience  of  "  the  awful  things  of  ocean." 

Monday,  the  day  of  St.  Laurence,  the  loth  of  August  [1519] 
.  .  .  the  fleet,  provided  with  what  was  necessary  for  it,  and  carry 
ing  crews  of  different  nations  to  the  number  of  237  men  in  all 
the  five  ships,  was  ready  to  set  sail  from  the  mole  of  Seville, 
and  firing  all  the  artillery,  we  made  sail  only  on  the  foremast, 
and  came  to  the  end  of  a  river  named  Betis,  which  is  now  called 
Guadalcavir.  .  .  .  After  that  we  had  passed  the  equinoctial  line 
toward  the  south,  we  navigated  between  south  and  west  ;  and 
we  crossed  [the  Atlantic]  as  far  as  a  country  named  Verzin 
[Brazil].  ...  At  this  place  we  had  refreshments  of  victuals  like 
fowls  and  meat  of  cows,  also  a  variety  of  fruits  of  singular 
goodness.  .  .  .  The  people  of  the  said  place  gave,  in  order  to 
have  a  knife  or  a  fish-hook,  five  or  six  fowls,  and  for  a  comb 
they  gave  two  geese,  and  for  a  small  mirror  or  a  pair  of  scissors 
they  gave  so  much  fish  that  ten  men  could  have  eaten  of  it.  ... 
For  a  king  of  cards,  of  the  kind  which  they  used  to  play  with 
in  Italy,  they  gave  five  fowls  and  thought  they  had  cheated  me. 
.  .  .  They  have  boats  which  are  made  of  a  tree,  all  in  one  piece, 
which  they  call  canoo.  These  are  not  made  with  iron  instru 
ments,  for  they  have  not  got  any,  but  with  stones  like  pebbles  ; 
and  with  these  they  plane  and  dig  out  these  boats.  Into  these 
thirty  or  forty  men  enter,  and  their  oars  are  made  like  iron 
shovels  ;  and  those  who  row  these  oars  are  black  people,  quite 
naked  and  shaven,  and  look  like  enemies  of  hell.  .  .  .  Depart 
ing  thence  as  far  as  49^  degrees  in  the  Antarctic  heavens  we 


1 2  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

entered  a  port  to  pass  the  winter,  and  remained  there  two  whole 
months  without  ever  seeing  anybody.  However  one  day  we 
saw  a  giant  on  the  shore  dancing  and  leaping  and  singing,  and 
whilst  singing  he  put  the  sand  and  dust  on  his  head  .  .  .  and  he 
raised  one  finger  on  high,  thinking  that  we  came  from  heaven. 
He  was  so  tall  that  the  tallest  of  us  came  only  to  his  waist. 
He  had  a  large  face  painted  red  all  around,  and  his  eyes  were 
painted  yellow  all  around  them,  and  he  had  two  hearts  painted 
on  his  cheeks ;  he  had  but  little  hair  on  his  head,  and  it  was 
painted  white.  .  .  .  The  captain  caused  food  and  drink  to  be 
given  to  this  giant,  and  they  showed  him  some  things,  among 
them  a  steel  mirror.  And  when  the  giant  saw  his  likeness  in 
it,  he  was  greatly  terrified,  leaping  backwards  so  that  he  made 
three  or  four  of  our  men  fall  down.  .  .  .  And  when  he  danced 
he  caused  the  earth  to  sink  a  palm's  depth  at  the  place  where 
his  feet  touched.  He  was  a  long  time  with  us,  and  at  the  end 
we  baptised  him  and  gave  him  the  name  of  John.  This  giant 
pronounced  the  name  of  Jesus,  the  Pater  Noster  [Lord's  prayer], 
and  the  Ave  Maria  [Hail,  Mary !]  as  clearly  as  we  did :  but  he 

had  a  terribly  strong  and  loud  voice 

After  taking  the  course  to  the  52d  degree  of  the  said  Ant 
arctic  sky ...  we  found  by  miracle  a  strait  which  we  called  the 
Cape  of  the  Eleven  Thousand  Virgins  ;  this  strait  is  1 1  o  leagues 
long  .  .  .  and  it  issues  in  another  sea  which  is  called  the  peaceful 
sea  [Pacific].  It  is  surrounded  by  very  high  mountains  covered 
with  snow,  and  it  was  not  possible  to  anchor  with  the  anchors, 
because  no  bottom  was  found.  .  .  .  Wednesday,  the  28th  of 
November  1520,  we  came  forth  out  of  the  said  strait,  and 
entered  into  the  Pacific  sea,  where  we  remained  three  months 
and  twenty  days  without  taking  in  provisions,  and  we  ate  only 
old  biscuits  reduced  to  powder  and  full  of  grubs  .  .  .  and  we 
drank  water  that  was  yellow  and  stinking.  We  also  ate  the  ox 
hides  which  were  under  the  main  yard,  so  that  the  yard  should 
not  break  the  rigging :  they  were  very  hard  on  account  of  the 
sun,  rain,  and  wind,  and  we  left  them  for  four  or  five  days  in 
the  sea,  and  then  we  put  them  a  little  on  the  embers,  and  so 
ate  them ;  also  the  sawdust  of  wood,  and  rats  which  cost  half  a 
crown  each :  moreover  enough  of  them  were  not  to  be  got.  .  .  . 


The  New  World  1 3 

Besides  those  that  died,  twenty  five  or  thirty  fell  ill  of  divers 
sicknesses  both  in  the  arms  and  legs  and  other  places,  in  such 
manner  that  very  few  remained  healthy.  However,  thanks  be 
to  the  Lord,  I  had  no  sickness.  .  .  .  And  if  our  Lord  and  His 
Mother  had  not  aided  us  ...  we  should  all  have  died  of  hunger 
in  this  vast  sea,  and  I  think  that  man  will  never  again  undertake 
to  perform  such  a  voyage.  .  .  . 

Saturday,  the  i6th  of  March  1521,  we  arrived  at  daybreak 
in  sight  of  a  high  island  .  .  .  named  Zamal.1  The  next  day  the 
captain-general  ...  set  up  two  tents  on  shore  for  the  sick,  and 
had  a  sow  killed  for  them.  .  .  .  The  people  became  very  friendly 
and  familiar  with  us,  and  the  captain  seeing  that  they  were  of 
this  good  condition  .  .  .  conducted  them  to  the  ship  and  showed 
them  all  his  goods,  cloves,  cinnamon,  pepper,  nutmeg,  ginger, 
mace,  gold,  and  all  that  was  in  the  ship.  He  also  had  some 
shots  fired  with  his  artillery,  at  which  they  were  so  much  afraid 
that  they  wished  to  jump  from  the  ship  into  the  sea.  .  .  .  These 
people  are  tawny,  fat,  and  painted,  and  they  anoint  themselves 
with  the  oil  of  coconuts  and  sesame  to  preserve  them  from  the 
sun  and  wind.  Their  hair  is  very  black  and  long,  reaching  to 
the  waist,  and  they  carry  small  daggers  and  knives  ornamented 
with  gold,  and  their  boats  are  like  ours.  .  .  .  They  only  half 
cook  their  victuals,  and  salt  them  very  much,  which  makes  them 
drink  a  great  deal :  and  thef  drink  much  with  reeds,  sucking 
the  wine  from  vessels.  Their  repasts  always  last  from  five  to 
six  hours.  .  .  . 

After  recounting  the  death  of  Magellan  ("  our  mirror, 
light,  comfort,  and  true  guide")  in  a  battle  against  the 
natives  of  the  island  of  Matan,  Pigapheta  gives  a  long  de 
scription  of  the  journey  through  the  East  Indies,  bringing 
up  at  the  island  of  Timor,  where  the  crew  was  regaled  with 
fabulous  stories  of  Java,  Siam,  and  China  beyond. 

Tuesday  night  on  the  nth  of  February  1522,  we  left  the 
Island  of  Timor  and  entered  upon  the  great  sea  named  Laut 

1  Samar,  in  the  Philippines. 


1 4  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

Chidol.1 ...  In  order  to  double  the  Cape  c  '  Good  Hope  we 
went  as  far  as  42°  South  latitude.  .  .  .  Some  of  our  men,  and 
among  them  the  sick,  would  have  liked  to  land  at  a  place  be 
longing  to  the  Portuguese  called  Mozambique,  both  because  the 
ship  made  much  water  and  because  of  the  great  cold  which  we 
suffered.  .  .  .  But  the  greater  number  of  us,  prizing  honor  more 
than  life  itself,  decided  on  attempting  at  any  risk  to  return  to 
Spain.  .  .  .  We  then  sailed  to  the  north-west  for  twc  whole 
months  without  ever  taking  rest ;  and  in  this  short  time  we  lost 
twenty  one  men  between  Christians  and  Indians.  We  made  then 
a  curious  observation  on  throwing  them  into  the  sea,  that  the 
Christians  remained  with  the  face  turned  to  the  sky,  and  the 
Indians  with  the  face  turned  to  the  sea.  And  if  God  had  not 
granted  us  favorable  weather,  we  should  have  all  perished  of 
hunger.  .  .  .  We  touched  at  the  Cape  Verde  Islands  .  . .  and  the 
inhabitants  told  us  that  it  was  Thursday,  which  was  a  great  cause 
of  wondering  to  us,  since  with  us  it  was  only  Wednesday.  .  .  . 
But  we  were  afterwards  advised  that  there  was  no  error  on  our 
part,  since  as  we  had  always  sailed  towards  the  west,  following 
the  course  of  the  sun,  and  had  returned  to  the  same  place,  we 
must  have  gained  twenty-four  hours,  as  is  clear  to  anyone  who 
reflects  upon  it.  ... 

At  last  when  it  pleased  Heaven,  on  Saturday  the  6th  of  Sep 
tember  1522,  we  entered  the  bay^of  San  Lucar;  and  of  sixty 
men  who  composed  our  crew  when  we  left  Maluco,  we  were 
reduced  to  only  eighteen,  and  these  for  the  most  part  sick.  Of 
the  others,  some  died  of  hunger,  some  had  run  away  at  Timor, 
and  some  had  been  condemned  to  death  for  their  crimes.  From 
the  day  when  we  left  this  bay  of  San  Lucar  until  our  return 
thither,  we  reckoned  that  we  had  run  more  than  14,460  leagues 
and  we  had  completed  going  round  the  earth  from  east  to  west. 

Monday  the  8th  of  September  we  cast  anchor  near  the  mole 
of  Seville,  and  discharged  all  the  artillery. 

Tuesday  we  all  went  in  shirts  and  barefoot,  with  a  taper  in 
our  hands,  to  visit  the  shrine  of  Santa  Maria  of  Victory.  .  .  . 
The  Chevalier  Anthoyne  Pigapheta 

1  The  "Javanese,"  or  Southern  (Indian),  Ocean. 


The  New  World  1  5 

In  1609,  as  an  "encouragement  to  "the  right  worshipp-  6.  De  Soto' 
full  counsellors  and  other  cheerefull  adventurers  "  who  had 


just  founded  at  Jamestown,  Virginia,  the  first  permanent  siPPi»  J538- 

English  settlement  in  America,  Richard  Hakluyt,  a  most       ^ 

enthusiastic  promoter  of  colonial  enterprise,  translated  from 

the  Portuguese  an  account  of  De  Soto's  "  four  yeares  con- 

tinuall  tr^yell  and  discoverie  for  above  one  thousand  miles 

east  and  west."   The  narrative  was  written  by  a  gentleman 

of  the  Portuguese  town  of  Elvas,  who  accompanied  De  Soto. 

It  contains  the  earliest  information  we  have  of  the  interior 

of  Georgia,  the  Carolinas,  Tennessee,  Arkansas,  and  the 

Gulf  States.    After  describing  De  Soto's  voyage  to  the 

West  Indies,  the  narrative  continues  : 

On  Sunday  the  18  of  May,  in  the  yeere  of  our  Lord  1539 
the  Adelantado,  or  president,  departed  from  Havana  in  Cuba 
with  his  fleete,  which  were  nine  vessels.  .  .  .  They  sailed  seven 
daies  with  a  prosperous  wind.  The  25  day  of  May,  the  day  de 
Pascade  Spirito  Santo  (which  we  call  Whitson  Sonday),  they  saw 
the  land  of  Florida.  .  .  .  They  came  to  the  town  of  Vcita,  where 
the  Governour  was,  on  Sunday  the  first  of  June,  being  Trinitie 
Sunday.  .  .  .  The  Countrie  round  about  was  very  fennie,  and 
encumbered  with  great  and  hie  trees.  The  Governor  commanded 
to  fel  the  woods  a  crossebow  shot  round  about  the  towne,  that 
the  horses  might  runne,  and  the  Christians  might  have  the 
advantage  of  the  Indians  if  by  chance  they  should  set  upon 
them  by  night.  .  .  . 

After  two  years  wandering  in  search  of  gold,  with  many 
a  dangerous  encounter  with  the  Indians,  De  Soto's  company 
reached  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi. 

And  because  the  streame  was  swift,  they  went  a  quarter  of 
a  league  up  the  River  along  the  bancke,  and  crossing  over,  fell 
down  with  the  streame,  and  landed  right  over  against  the  Camp. 
...  As  soon  as  those  that  passed  first  were  on  land  on  the 


1 6  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

other  side,  the  barges  returned  to  the  place  where  the  Governor 
was :  and  within  two  hours  after  Sunne-rising  all  the  people 
were  over.1  The  River  was  almost  half  a  league  broad.  If  a 
man  stood  still  on  the  other  side,  it  could  not  be  discerned 
whether  he  were  a  man  or  no.  The  River  was  of  great  depth 
and  of  strong  current :  the  water  was  always  muddie :  there 
came  downe  the  River  continually  many  trees  and  timber,  which 
the  force  of  the  water  and  streame  brought  downe.  There  was 
a  great  store  of  fish  in  it  of  sundrie  sorts,  and  the  most  of  it 
differing  from  the  fresh  water  fish  of  Spaine.  .  .  . 

For  still  another  year  De  Soto  pursued  his  fruitless  quest 
for  gold  beyond  the  Mississippi,  and  returned  to  the  western 
bank  of  the  great  river  to  die. 

The  Governor  felt  in  himselfe  that  the  houre  approached, 
wherein  hee  was  to  leave  this  present  life,  and  called  for  the 
King's  Officers,  Captaines,  and  principall  persons  .  .  .  and  re 
quested  them  to  elect  a  principall  person,  able  to  governe,  of 
whom  all  should  like  well,  and  when  he  was  elected  they  should 
sweare  before  him  to  obey  him.  .  .  .  And  Baltasar  de  Galley os 
answered  in  the  name  of  all  the  rest :  And  first  of  all  comforting 
him,  he  set  before  his  eyes  how  short  the  life  of  this  world  was, 
and  how  with  many  troubles  and  miseries  it  is  accompanied,  and 
how  God  showed  him  a  singular  favor  which  soonest  left  it. 
And  touching  the  Governor  which  he  commanded  that  they 
should  elect,  he  besought  him  that  it  would  please  his  Lordship 
to  name  him  which  he  thought  fit,  and  him  they  would  obey. 
And  presently  he  named  Luis  de  Moscoso  de  Alvarado  his 
Captaine  generall.  .  .  .  The  next  day,  being  the  2ist  of  May, 
1542,  departed  out  of  this  life  the  valiant,  virtuous,  and  valorous 
Captaine,  Don  Fernando  de  Soto,  Governor  of  Cuba,  and  Adelan- 
tado  of  Florida :  whom  fortune  advanced,  as  it  useth  to  do  others, 
that  hee  might  have  the  higher  fal.  .  .  .  Luis  de  Moscoso  deter 
mined  to  conceale  his  death  from  the  Indians,  because  Ferdnando 

1  The  site  of  the  crossing  was  probably  Council  Bend  or  Walnut  Bend, 
in  Trinca  County,  Mississippi,  some  twenty-five  to  thirty-five  miles  south 
of  Memphis. 


The  New  World  17 

de  Soto  had  made  them  believe  that  the  Christians  were  immor- 
tall ;  also  because  they  tooke  him  to  be  hardie,  wise,  and  valiant : 
and  if  they  should  know  that  he  was  dead  they  would  be  bold 
to  set  upon  the  Christians,  though  they  lived  peaceablie  by  them. 
...  As  soone  as  he  was  dead,  Luis  de  Moscoso  commanded  to 
put  him  secretly  in  an  house,  where  hee  remained  three  daies : 
and  removing  him  from  thence,  commanded  him  to  bee  buried 
in  the  night  at  one  of  the  gates  of  the  towne,  within  the  wall. 
And  as  the  Indians  had  scene  him  sick  and  missed  him,  so  they 
did  suspect  what  might  bee.  And  passing  by  the  place  where 
hee  was  buried,  seeing  the  earth  mooved,  they  looked  and  spake 
one  to  another.  Luis  de  Moscoso  understanding  of  it,  commanded 
him  to  be  taken  up  by  night,  and  to  cast  a  great  deale  of  sand 
into  the  mantles  wherein  he  was  winded  up,  wherein  hee  was 
carried  in  a  canoe  and  throwne  into  the  middest  of  the  River. 
The  Cacique  (Chief)  of  Guachoya  inquired  for  him,  demanding 
what  was  become  of  his  brother  and  Lord,  the  Governor ;  Luis 
de  Moscoso  told  him  that  hee  was  gon  to  heaven,  as  many  other 
times  hee  did  :  and  because  hee  was  to  stay  there  certaine  daies, 
hee  had  left  him  in  his  place.  .  .  .  Luis  de  Moscoso  commanded 
all  the  goods  of  the  Governor  to  be  sold  at  an  outcrie  (auction)  : 
to  wit,  two  men  slaves,  &  two  women  slaves,  and  three  horses, 
and  700  hogges.  .  .  . 

Under  Luis  de  Moscoso  the  men  built  "  seven  brigan- 
dines  "  in  which  they  sailed  down  the  Mississippi,  and, 
after  fifty-two  days  of  perilous  voyaging  on  the  Gulf, 
three  hundred  and  eleven  out  of  the  original  company 
of  six  hundred  arrived  at  the  Mexican  town  of  Panuco, 
September  14,  1543. 

All  of  them  were  apparrelled  in  Deeres  skins  tanned  and  died 
black,  to  wit  cotes,  hose,  and  shooes.  When  they  came  to  Panuco 
they  presently  went  to  the  Church  to  pray,  and  give  God  thanks 
that  so  miraculously  had  saved  them.  The  townsmen  .  .  .  carried 
some  of  them  to  their  houses  and  entertained  them  .  .  .  because 
they  were  their  Countrimen.  .  .  .  And  all  of  them  were  provided 
for  by  their  hostes  of  many  hennes  and  bread  of  maiz  and  fruits 


1 8  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

of  the  Countrie  .  .  .  God  reward  them  all.  And  God  grant  that 
those  which  it  pleased  him  to  deliver  out  of  Florida,  and  to  bring 
againe  into  Christendome,  may  serve  him ;  and  unto  those  that 
died  in  that  countrey  ...  God  for  his  mercie  sake  grant  the 
kingdome  of  heaven.  Amen 

7.  A  tribute  The  following  turgid  and  clumsy  laudation  of  Queen 
Elizabeth  as  Elizabeth  was  prefixed  to  a  chapter  of  an  ambitious  work 
the  "Mother  "  contayning  a  History  of  the  World  in  Sea  Voyages  and 

of  English  })  J 

Sea-great-      Lande  Travells,"  published  in  1625  by  Samuel  Purchas, 
nesse,"  1625  gon  Q£  a  yeoman  of  Essex<    Purchas  was  a  younger  asso 
ciate  of  the  great  chronicler  Richard  Hakluyt,  and  called 
himself  "  Hakluytus  Posthumus." 

Haile  greatest  of  English  Names,  glorious  Elizabeth !  Nor 
may  wee  after  thy  voyage  and  peregrination  out  of  this  World, 
unto  thy  true  and  heavenly  home  &  Country,  forget  the  great 
acts  of  thy  earthly  Pilgrimage.  Thou  wast  indeed  the  Mother 
of  English  sea-greatnesse,  and  didst  first  by  thy  Generalls  not 
salute  alone,  but  awe  and  terrify  the  remotest  East  and  West, 
stretching  thy  long  and  strong  armes  to  India,  to  China,  to 
America,  to  the  Peruvian  seas,  to  the  Californian  Coast  and 
New  Albians  scepters :  Thou  mad'st  the  Northerne  Muscovite 
admire  thy  Greatnesse :  Thou  gavest  name  to  the  North-west 
Straits  (Meta  Incognita)  and  the  Southern  Negros,  and  Islands 
of  the  South-unknowne-continent  which  knew  not  humanitie, 
were  compelled  to  know  thee.  Thou  imbracedst  the  whole 
Earthly  Globe  in  thy  Maritime  Armes.  .  .  .  Thou  wast  a  Mother 
to  thy  neighbors,  Scots,  French,  Dutch ;  a  Mirror  to  the  re 
motest  of  Nations.  Great  Cumberlands  twelve  voyages  before 
recited  are  thine,  and  the  fiery  vigor  of  his  Martiall  Spirit  was 
kindled  at  thy  bright  Lamp.  .  .  .  Drake,  Candish  [Cavendish], 
John  and  Richard  Hawkins,  Raleigh,  Dudley,  Sherley,  Preston, 
Greerivile,  .  .  .  Winter,  Frobisher,  Davies,  and  other  the  Star- 
worthies  of  Englands  Sphere,  whose  Planet-courses  we  have 
before  related,  acknowledge  Elizas  Orb  to  be  their  first  and 
highest  Mover. 


The  New  World  19 

After  conspicuous  military  services  in  Ireland  and  the  8.  Sir  Hum- 


Netherlands,  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  petitioned  the  Queen  £t%  patent 
for  the  favor  of  serving  her  by  exploration.    His  request  X578 
was  granted,  and  the  following  patent  issued,  by  virtue  of        I181 
which  he  was  the  first  Englishman  "  to  carry  people  to 
erect  an  habitation  and  government  in  these   Northerly 
Cotmtreys  of  America." 

The  Letters  Patents  granted  by  her  Majestic  to  Sir  Humfrey 
Gilbert  knight,  for  the  inhabiting  and  planting  of  our  people  in 
America. 

Elizabeth,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  Queene  of  England,  &c. 
To  all  people  to  whom  these  presents  shall  come,  greeting. 
Know  ye  that  of  our  especiall  grace,  certaine  science  and  meere 
motion,  we  have  given  and  granted,  and  by  these  presents  for 
us,  our  heirs  and  successors,  doe  give  and  grant  to  our  trustie 
and  wellbeloved  servant  Sir  Humfrey  Gilbert  of  Compton  in 
our  countie  of  Devonshire  knight,  and  to  his  heirs  and  assignes 
forever,  free  libertie  and  license  from  time  to  time,  and  at  all 
times  forever  hereafter,  to  discover,  finde,  search  out,  and  view 
such  remote,  heathen  and  barbarous  lands,  countries  and  terri 
tories  not  actually  possessed  of  any  Christian  prince  or  people, 
as  to  him,  his  heirs  &  assignes,  and  to  every  or  any  of  them, 
shall  seem  good  :  and  the  same  to  have,  hold,  occupie,  and  en 
joy  to  him,  his  heirs  and"  assignes  forever,  with  all  commodities, 
jurisdictions  and  royalties,  both  by  sea  and  land.  .  .  .  And  we 
do  likewise  by  these  presents  .  .  .  give  full  authoritie  and  power 
to  the  saide  Sir  Humfrey  .  .  .  that  he  shall  and  may  at  all  and 
every  time  and  times  hereafter,  have  take  and  lead  ...  to  in 
habit  there  with  him  .  .  .  such  and  so  many  of  our  subjects  as 
shall  willingly  accompany  him  .  .  .  with  sufficient  shipping  and 
furniture  for  their  transportations,  so  that  none  of  the  same 
persons  nor  any  of  them  be  such  as  hereafter  shall  be  specially 
restrained  by  us,  our  heires  and  successors.  And  further  that 
he,  saide  Humfrey,  his  heirs  and  assignes  .  .  .  shall  have,  hold 
and  occupy  and  enjoy  ...  all  the  soyle  of  all  such  lands,  coun 
tries  &  territories  so  to  be  discovered  or  possessed  as  aforesaid, 


20  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

and  of  all  Cities,  Castles,  Townes,  and  Villages,  and  places  in 
the  same,  with  the  rights,  royalties,  and  jurisdictions,  as  well 
marine  as  other  ...  to  be  had  or  used  with  ful  power  to  dispose 
thereof,  &  of  every  part  thereof  in  fee  simple  .  .  .  according  to 
the  laws  of  England  .  .  .  paying  unto  us  for  all  services,  duties 
and  demands,  the  fifth  part  of  all  the  oare  of  gold  and  silver 
that  .  .  .  shall  be  there  gotten.  .  .  . 

And  forasmuch  as  ...  it  shall  be  necessarie  for  the  safety 
of  all  men  that  shall  adventure  themselves  in  those  journeys  or 
voyages  to  determine  to  live  together  in  Christian  peace  and 
civill  quietness,  whereby  everyone  may  with  more  pleasure  and 
profit  enjoy  that  whereunto  they  shall  attaine  with  great  paine 
and  perill :  wee  .  .  .  doe  give  and  grant  the  said  Humfrey  and 
his  heires  and  assignes  forever  .  .  .  that  they  shall  have  full  and 
meere  [free]  power  and  authoritie  to  correct,  punish,  pardon, 
governe,  and  rule  ...  as  well  in  causes  capitall  or  criminal!,  as 
civill,  both  marine  and  other,  all  such  our  subjects  as  shall  .  .  . 
adventure  themselves  in  the  said  journeys  or  voyages  ...  ac 
cording  to  such  statutes,  lawes,  and  ordinances  as  shall  be  by 
him  the  said  Sir  Humfrey,  his  heires  and  assignes  .  .  .  devised 
or  established  for  the  better  government  of  the  said  people :  so 
always  that  the  sayd  statutes,  lawes  and  ordinances  may  be  as 
neere  as  conveniently  may,  agreeable  to  the  forme  of  the  lawes 
&  pollicy  of  England ;  and  also  that  they  be  not  against  the  true 
Christian  faith  or  religion  now  professed  in  the  Church  of  Eng 
land,  nor  in  any  wise  to  withdraw  any  of  the  subjects  or  peoples 
of  those  lands  or  places  from  the  allegiance  of  us,  our  heires  or 
successours,  as  their  immediate  Soveraignes  under  God.  .  .  . 

Witnesse  ourselfe  at  Westminster  the  n  day  of  June,  the 
twentieth  yeere  of  our  raigne.  Anno  Dom.  1578 

Per  ipsam  Reginam 

9.  An  en-  Until  the  last  quarter  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  Eng- 

toUEngiishn    ^s^  showed  practically  no  interest  in  the  colonization  of 

colonization,    the  new  world.    Richard  Hakluyt  wrote  in  the  Dedicatory 

,1Q,         Epistle   to   his    "Divers  Voyages,"   published   in    1582: 

11  I    marvaile   [marvel]   not  a  little,   that    since  the  first 


The  New  World  2 1 

discoverie  of  America,  which  is  nowe  full  fourscore  and 
tenne  yeerss,  after  so  great  conquests  and  plantings  of 
the  Spaniards  and  Portingales  [Portuguese]  there,  that 
wee  of  England  could  never  have  the  grace  to  set  fast 
footing  in  such  fertill  and  temperate  places  as  are  left  as 
yet  unpossessed  of  them."  Two  years  later,  on  the  fail 
ure  of  Gilbert's  expedition  and  the  transfer  of  his  patent 
(No.  8,  p.  19)  to  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  Hakluyt,  now  chaplain 
of  the  English  embassy  at  Paris,  "  at  the  request  and  direc 
tion  of  the  right  worshippfull  Mr.  Walter  Raylay,"  wrote 
his  "  Discourse  Concerning  Western  Planting"  (Coloniza 
tion),  from  which  the  following  extracts  are  taken  : 

Nowe,  to  leave  the  Spaniardes  and  Frenche  and  to  come  to 
ourselves:  seeing  it  hath  pleased  Almightie  God  to  reveale  at 
this  instant  unto  her  Majestic  and  the  realm  that  once  again 
afreshe  which  was  in  parte  discovered  by  Sebastian  Gabote 
[Cabot]  ...  to  her  most  famous  grandfather,  Kinge  Henry  the 
Seaventh  ...  if  nowe  the  Queene,  her  Counsel!,  and  other  sub 
jects  shall  never  so  little  delaye  ...  let  them  assure  themselves 
that  they  will  come  to[o]  late  and  a  day  after  the  faire :  ffor  as 
the  wise  man  sayeth  O^gr"  Post  est  occasio  calva.^  ...  To  con 
clude ;  if  wee  doe  procrastinate  the  plantinge  [colonizing]  .  .  . 
the  Frenche,  the  Normans,  the  Brytons,  or  the  Duche  or  some 
other  nation  will  not  only  prevente  us  of  the  mightie  Baye  of 
St.  Lawrence,  where  they  have  gotten  the  starte  of  us  already, 
thoughe  wee  had  the  same  revealed  to  us  by  bookes  published 
and  printed  in  Englishe  before  them,  but  also  will  deprive  us 
of  that  goodd  land  which  nowe  wee  have  discovered.  Which  if 
they  doe  (as  God  defende  they  shoulde),  then  it  falleth  oute  that 
we  shall  have  our  enemyes  or  doubtfull  frendes  rounde  about 
us  ...  and  also  incurr  great  danger  and  inconvenience  in  suffer- 
inge  Papistes  ...  to  enriche  themselves  under  our  noses,  to  be 
better  able  to  supplant  or  overrunne  us.  ... 

1  "  Opportunity  is  bald  behind." 


22  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

The  Discourse  proceeds  with  a  long  and  labored  argu 
ment  that  the  northwest  passage  to  China  may  be  "  easily, 
quickly  and  perfectly  searched  out"  by  English  expeditions 
to  the  new  world,  and  that  Spain's  claim  to  the  mainland  of 
America  is  invalid  in  spite  of  both  Columbus'  voyage  and 
the  Pope's  Bull.  For,  even  passing  over  the  voyage  of  the 
Welshman,  Mardoch  ap  Owen,  in  1170,  "  Gabote  [Cabot] 
discovered  this  long  tracte  of  firme  lande  twoo  yeeres  before 
Columbus  ever  sawe  any  part  of  the  Continent  thereof." 
The  treatise  closes  with  a  list  of  reasons  to  induce  the 
Queen  to  "  take  in  hande  the  westerne  voyadge." 

1.  The  soyle  yeldeth,  and  may  be  made  to  yelde,  all  the 
severall  comodities  of  Europe,  and  of  all  kingdomes,  domynions, 
and  territories  that  England  tradeth  with.  .  .  . 

2.  The  passage  thither  and  home  is  neither  to[o]  longe  nor 
to[o]  shorte,  but  easie  and  to  be  made  twise  in  the  yere.  .  .  . 

6.  This  enterprise  may  staye  the  Spanishe  Kinge  from 
flowinge  over  all  the  face  of  that  waste  firme  [unoccupied  main 
land]  of  4merica,  if  wee  seate  and  plante  there  in  time.  .  .  . 
Howe  easie  a  matter  may  it  bee  to  this  realme,  swarminge  at 
this  day  with  valiant  youthes,  rustinge  and  hurtfull  by  lack  of 
employment  ...  to  be  lordes  of  all  those  sees,  and  to  spoile 
Phillipps  Indian  navye  [Philip  IPs  fleet  in  the  West  Indies],  and 
to  deprive  him  of  the  yerely  passage  of  his  treasure  into  Europe, 
and  consequently  to  abate  the  pride  of  Spaine  and  of  the  sup 
porter  of  the  great  Antechrist  of  Rome,  and  to  pull  him  downe 
in  equallitie  with  his  neighbor  princes.  .  .  . 

10.  No  forren  [foreign]  comoditie  that  comes  into  England 
comes  withoute  payment  of  custome  once,  twise,  or  thrise  before 
it  comes  into  the  realme,  and  so  all  forren  comodities  become 
derer  to  the  subjectes  of  this  realme :  and  by  this  course  to 
Norumbega  [the  northern  shores  of  America]  forren  princes 
customes  are  avoided.  .  .  . 

1 6.  Wee  shall  by  plan  tinge  there  inlarge  the  glory  of  the 
Gospell,  and  from  England  plante  sincere  religion,  and  provide 


The  Nciv  World  23 

a  safe  and  sure  place  to  receave  people  from  all  partes  of  the 
world  that  are  forced  to  flee  for  the  truth  of  Gods  worde.  .  .  . 

17.  If  frontier  warres  there  chaunce  to  arise  ...  it  will  occa 
sion  the  trayninge  upp  of  our  youthe  in  the  discipline  of  warr, 
and  make  a  nomber  fitt  for  the  service  of  the  warres  and  for  the 
defence  of  our  people  there  and  at  home.  .  .  . 

20.  Many  men  of  excellent  wittes  and  of  divers  singuler  giftes, 
overthrown  by  suertishippe  [suretyship,  trusteeship],  by  sea,  or 
by  some  folly  of  youthe,  that  are  not  able  to  live  in  England, 
may  there  be  raised  againe,  and  doe  their  contrie  goodd  service. . . . 

22.  The  frye  of  the  wandringe  beggars  of  England,  that  grewe 
upp  idly,  and  hurtefull  and  burdenous  to  this  realme,  may  there 
be  unladen  and  better  bredd  upp.  .  .  . 

23.  If  Englande  crie  oute  and  affirme,  that  there  is  so  many 
in  all  trades  that  one  cannot  live  for  another  .  .  .  this  Norumbega 

.  offreth  the  remedie. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  ENGLISH  COLONIES 
THE  OLD  DOMINION 

10.  An  Eng-  John  Pory,  the  author  of  the  following  letter,  was  a 
man?111  Cambridge  Master  of  Arts  and  an  ex-member  of  Parlia- 
impressions  ment.  He  accompanied  Governor  Yeardley  to  Jamestown 
^ip  m  1619  and  became  secretary  of  the  Colony.  He  was 
[29]  Speaker  of  the  first  legislative  assembly  that  met  on 
American  soil,  the  House  of  Burgesses  of  July  30  to 
August  4,  1619.  The  proceedings  of  this  memorable 
session,  written  in  Pory's  own  hand,  were  discovered  in 
the  State  Paper  Office  of  England  in  1853.  The  follow 
ing  letter  was  written  by  Pory  to  his  friend,  the  English 
Ambassador  to  Holland,  only  a  few  weeks  after  the 
adjournment  of  the  Assembly  : 

RIGHT  HONORABLE,  AND  MY  SINGULAR  GOOD  LORDE  : 

.  .  .  Here  (as  your  lordship  cannot  be  ignorant)  I  am,  for  faulte 
of  a  better,  Secretary  of  Estate,  the  first  that  was  ever  chosen 
and  appointed  by  Commission  from  the  Counsell  and  Company 
in  England,  under  their  handes  and  common  scale.  By  my  fees 
I  must  maintaine  my  selfe  ;  which  the  Governour  telles  me,  may 
this  yeere  amounte  to  a  matter  of  300!.  sterling;  wherof  fifty 
doe  I  owe  to  himselfe,  and  I  pray  God  the  remainder  may 
amounte  to  a  hundred  more.  As  yet  I  have  gotten  nothing,  save 
onely  (if  I  may  speak  it  without  boasting)  a  general  reputation 
of  integrity.  .  .  . 

As  touching  the  quality  of  this  country,  three  things  there  bee 
which  in  a  fewe  yeares  may  bring  this  Colony  to  perfection ;  the 

24 


The  English  Colonies  25 

English  plough,  Vineyards,  and  Cattle.  For  the  first,  there  may 
be  many  grounds  here,  cleared  by  the  Indians,  to  our  handes, 
which  being  much  worne  out  will  beare  no  more  of  their  corn, 
which  requireth  an  extraordinary  deale  of  sappe  and  substance 
to  nourish  it ;  but  of  our  graine  of  all  sortes  it  will  beare  great 
abundance.  We  have  had  this  yeare  a  plentifull  cropp  of  English 
wheat,  though  the  last  harvest  1618  was  onely  shed  upon  the 
stubble  and  so  self-sowne.  In  July  last,  so  soone  as  we  had 
reaped  this  self-sowen  wheate,  we  sett  Indian  corne  upon  the 
same  grounde,  which  is  come  up  in  great  abundance.  .  .  . 

Vines  are  here  in  suche  abundance  that,  wheresover  a  man 
treads,  they  are  ready  to  embrace  his  foote.  .  .  .  For  cattle  they 
do  mightily  increase  here,  both  kine,  hogges  and  goates,  and  are 
much  greater  in  stature  than  the  race  of  them  first  brought 
out  of  England.  All  our  riches  for  the  present  doe  consiste  in 
tobacco,  wherein  one  man  by  his  owne  labor  hath  in  one  yeare 
raised  to  himself e  to  the  value  of  200!.  sterling;  and  another 
by  the  meanes  of  sixe  servants  hath  cleared  at  one  crop  a  thousand 
pound  English.1 

Nowe  that  your  lordship  may  knowe  that  we  are  not  the  veriest 
beggers  in  the  worlde,  our  cowekeeper  here  of  James  citty  on 
Sundays  goes  accowtered  [dressed]  all  in  f reshe  flaming  silke ;  and 
a  wife  of  one  that  in  England  had  professed  the  black  arte,  not 
of  a  scholler  but  of  a  collier  of  Croyden,  weares  her  rough  bever 
hatt  with  a  faire  pearl  hatband,  and  a  silken  suite  thereto  cor 
respondent.  But  to  leave  the  populace  and  come  higher;  the 
Governour  here,  who  at  his  first  coming,  besides  a  great  deale  of 
worth  in  his  person,  brought  onely  his  sword  with  him,  was  at 
his  late  being  in  London,  together  with  his  lady,  out  of  his  meer 
gettings  here,  able  to  disburse  very  near  3000  1.  to  furnishe  him- 
selfe  for  his  voyage.  And  once  within  seven  yeares,  I  am  per 
suaded  (absit  invidia  verbo) 2  that  the  Governors  place  here  may 
be  as  profitable  as  the  lord  Deputies  of  Irland.  ...  At  my  first 
coming  hither  the  solitary  uncouthnes  of  this  place,  compared 
with  those  partes  of  Christendome  or  Turky  where  I  had  been  ; 
and  likewise  my  being  senquestered  from  all  occurrents  [events] 

1  $5000,  equivalent  perhaps  to  $20,000  to-day. 

2  "  Envy  be  absent  from  my  speech." 


26  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

and  passages  which  are  so  rife  there,  did  not  a  little  vexe  me.  And 
yet  in  these  five  moneths  of  my  continuance  here,  there  have  come 
at  one  time  or  another  eleven  saile  of  ships  into  this  River :  but 
fraighted  more  with  ignorance  then  [than]  with  any  other  mur- 
chandize.  At  length  being  hardened  to  this  custome  of  abstinence 
from  curiosity,  I  am  resolved  wholly  to  minde  my  business  here, 
and  nexte  after  my«penne,  to  have  some  good  book  alwayes  in 
store,  being  in  solitude  the  best  and  choicest  company.  Besides, 
among  these  christall  rivers  and  odiferous  woods  I  doe  escape 
muche  expense,  envye,  contempte,  vanity,  and  vexation  of  minde. 
Yet  good  my  lord,  have  a  little  compassion  on  me,  and  be  pleased 
to  sende  me  what  pampletts  and  relations  of  the  Interim  since  I 
was  with  you,  as  your  lordship  shall  think  good.  .  .  . 

Your  lordships  ever  most  humbly  at  your  commande 

Jo.  Pory 

James  Citty  in  Virginia,  Sept.  30,  1619 

11.  Virginia       The  colonies  in  America  naturally  felt  the  effect  of  the 

ters^iesT-38"  stormy  years  of  the  mid-seventeenth  century  in  England. 

1662  Two    years   after    Oliver   Cromwell   had   established    the 

I32]        Commonwealth  (or  Republic)  in  England,  the  following 

proclamation  was  issued  by  Parliament : 

INSTRUCTIONS  FOR  CAPTAIN  ROBERT  DENIS,  MR. 
RICHARD  BENNET,  MR.  THOMAS  STAGGE,  AND  CAPTAIN 
WILLIAM  CLAYBOURNE,  APPOINTED  COMMISSIONERS 
FOR  THE  REDUCING  OF  VIRGINIA  AND  THE  INHABIT 
ANTS  THEREOF  TO  THEIR  DUE  OBEDIENCE  TO  THE 
COMMONWEALTH  OF  ENGLAND 

.  .  .  Upon  your  arrival  at  Virginia,  you,  or  any  two  or  more 
of  you  (of  whom  captain  Robert  Denis  to  be  one)  shall  use  your 
best  endeavors  to  reduce  all  the  Plantations  within  the  Bay  of 
Chesopiaik  [Chesapeake]  to  their  due  obedience  to  the  Parlia 
ment  of  the  Commonwealth  of  England.  For  which  purpose 
you  .  .  .  have  hereby  power  to  assure  Pardon  and  Indemnity  to 
all  the  Inhabitants  of  the  said  Plantations,  that  shall  submit  unto 
the  present  Government  and  authority.  .  .  . 


The  English  Colonies  27 

And  in  case  they  shall  not  submit  by  fair  ways  and  means, 
you  are  to  use  all  Arts  of  hostility,  that  lie  in  your  power 
to  enforce  them:  and  if  you  shall  find  that  the  People  so 
stand  out  that  you  can  by  no  other  ways  or  means  reduce 
them  to  their  due  obedience,  you  have  power  to  appoint  cap 
tains  and  other  officers,  and  to  raise  forces  within  every  one 
of  the  Plantations .  aforesaid,  for  the  furtherance  and  good  of 
the  Service.  .  .  . 

You  shall  cause  and  see  the  several  acts  of  Parliament  against 
kingship  and  the  House  of  lords  to  be  received  and  published ; 
also  the  Acts  for  abolishing  the  Book  of  common  prayers  .  .  . 
and  all  other  Acts  herewith  delivered  you.  You  .  .  .  have  full 
Power  to  administer  an  oath  to  the  Inhabitants  or  planters  there, 
to  be  true  and  faithful  to  the  Commonwealth  of  England,  as  it 
is  now  established,  without  a  King  or  House  of  lords.  .  .  . 

You  shall  cause  all  writs,  warrents,  and  other  processes  what 
soever  to  be  issued  forth  as  occasion  shall  require,  in  the  name 
of  the  keepers  of  the  liberty  of  England,  by  authority  of  the 
Parliament.  .  .  . 

And  lastly  we  doubt  not  but  you  will  use  your  best  diligence 
and  care  in  carrying  on  of  this  affair.  ...  So  the  Council  1  will 
take  the  same  into  consideration,  that  respect  may  be  had  of 
your  Pains  and  travail  therein/and  of  a  recompence  agreeable 
to  your  service.  .  .  . 

Signed  in  the  name  and  by  the  order  of  the  Council  of  State 
appointed  by  authority  of  Parliament 

Jo.  Bradshawe,  President 
Whitehall,  Sept.  26th,  1651 

From  the  resignation  of  Richard  Cromwell,  son  of  the 
great  Oliver,  April  22,  1659,  until  the  restoration  of 
Charles  II,  May  29,  1660,  England  was  without  a  legal 
government.  The  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses  in  its 
session  of  March  13,  1660,  passed  the  following  acts: 

1  The  Council  of  State  was  a  committee  of  about  forty  members  of 
Parliament  which  performed  the  executive  duties  under  the  Common 
wealth. 


28  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

Whereas  by  reason  of  the  late  frequent  distractions,  which 
God  in  his  mercy  putt  a  suddaine  period  [sudden  stop]  to,  there 
being  in  England  noe  resident  absolute  and  gen '11  confessed 
power  :  Be  it  enacted  and  confirmed,  That  the  supreame  power  of 
the  government  of  this  country  shall  be  resident  in  the  Assembly, 
and  that  all  writts  issued  in  the  name  of  the  Grand  Assembly 
of  Virginia,  until  such  a  comand  and  commission  come  out  of 
England,  shall  be  by  the  Assembly  judged  lawfull. 

Bee  it  enacted,  That  the  honourable  Sir  William  Berkeley  bee 
Governour  and  Captain  Gen'll  of  Virginia,  and  that  he  govern 
according  to  the  ancient  lawes  of  England  and  the  established 
lawes  of  this  country.  .  .  . 

The  restoration  of  Charles  II  in  1660  was  followed  by 
loyal  acts  of  acknowledgment  on  the  part  of  the  colonies 
and  expressions  of  pardon  and  goodwill  from  the  amiable 
king.  To  Governor  Berkeley,  who  had  gone  over  to  Eng 
land  shortly  after  the  Restoration,  the  following  instructions 
were  issued  : 

.  .  .  You  shall  within  one  month  after  your  arrival,  or  sooner, 
if  you  think  fit  call  a  General  Assembly  according  to  the  usage 
and  custom  of  that  our  Colony  and  at  the  opening  thereof  you 
shall  declare  to  them  that  we  are  graciously  pleased  to  grant  a 
free  and  General  act  of  pardon  and  oblivion  to  all  our  subjects 
of  what  degree  and  quality  whatsoever  .  .  .  excepting  such  per 
sons  who  are  attainted  by  act  of  Parliament  for  the  horrid  mur 
der  of  our  dear  Father 1  of  blessed  memory  .  .  .  provided  that 
you  and  the  Assembly  take  present  care  for  the  repeal  of  all 
laws  and  orders  made  during  the  late  times  of  rebellion  and 
usurpation  against  our  crown  and  dignity.  .  .  . 

You  shall  let  that  Assembly  know  that  we  do  expect  from 
you  and  them  that  you  establish  good  and  wholesome  rules 
and  orders  .  .  .  for  the  punishment  of  all  vice  and  debauchery 
and  idleness  .  .  .  and  that  they  likewise  establish  all  necessary 

1  The  "  regicide  "  members  of  the  Rump  Parliament  who  had  voted 
for  Charles  I's  execution,  1649. 


The  English  Colonies  29 

encouragements  for  virtue,  industry  and  obedience, -and  for  what 
soever  may  advance  the  wealth,  honor,  and  reputation  of  that  our 
Colony  ...  in  order  to  which  we  do  very  heartily  recommend 
to  you  and  their  care  and  consideration. 

1.  That  care  be  taken  to  dispose  the  Planters  to  be  willing 
to  build  towns  upon  Every  River,  which  must  tend  very  much 
to  their  security  and  in  time  to  their  profit.  .  .  . 

2.  That  all  possible  endeavours  be  used  and  encouragement 
given  to  advance  the  plantation  of  Silk,  Flax,  Hemp,  Pitch  and. 
potatoes  for  which  we  are  well  assured  that  climate  and  soil  is 
very  proper.  .  .  . 

3.  Whereas  we  have  been  moved  to  put  some  restraint  on 
the  planting  of  Tobacco  in  that  our  Colony,  both  for  the  advanc 
ing  of  the  other  commodities  we  have  recommended  to  you,  and 
because  the  price  thereof  falls  so  low  by  the  great  quantities 
brought  in  from  our  other  plantations,  that  the  same  will  not  in 
a  short  time  be  valuable  to  the  planters  or  merchants  ...  we  do 
recommend  the  consideration  and  debate  of  the  whole  to  you 
and  our  Assembly  .  .  .  and  we  do  direct  you  that  some  Commis 
sioners  be  appointed  to  treat  with  others  of  Maryland  to  that 
purpose,  and  a  fitt  place  agreed  upon  for  the  same.    In  order 
whereunto  we  are  well  assured  the  Lord  Baltimore  will  send 
Directions  to  those  that  are  trusted  by  him.  .  .  . 

5.  ...  Whereas  we  have  certain  knowledge  that  very  much 
Tobacco  is  shipped  in  that  our  Colony  in  Dutch  vessels  .  .  .  and 
that  very  much  which  is  put  on  English  vessels  is  not  yet  brought 
into  England  ...  we  do  hereby  require  you  that  a  very  exact 
account  you  do  cause  to  be  ...  transmitted  to  our  Counsellors 
and  Farmers  of  our  Customs  here  of  all  the  Tobacco  which 
shall  be  shipped  from  that  our  Colony  in  English  vessels.  .  .  . 

8.  You  shall  once  every  year  transmit  the  true  and  full  state 
of  that  our  Colony  to  our  Council  of  plantations  here,  with  a 
particular  account  of  every  improvement  you  observe  to  be 
made  by  the  industry  of  the  planters  as  well  as  by  the  direction 
of  the  Government.  In  the  year  past  what  number  of  people 
have  been  transported  thither  .  .  .  and  what  new  plantations 
they  have  entered  upon,  and  what  new  encouragement  you  de 
sire  from  hence  ...  so  that  we  may  show  you  by  some  new 


30  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

multiplied  grace  and  favor  how  much  we  take  to  heart  the  good 
and  benefit  and  advancement  of  that  our  Colony  and  our  good 
subjects  thereof. 

9.  Lastly  ...  we  do  hereby  recomriiend  to  your  wisdom  and 
integrity  that  Justice  be  well  and  impartially  administered,  and 
that  our  good  subjects  shall  have  no  cause  of  complaint.  .  .  . 

Given  at  our  Court  at  White  Hall  this  i2th  day  of  September 
in  the  fourteenth  year  of  our  reign,1  1662 

By  his  Majesties  Command 

12.  An  eye-  It  would  be  hard  to  find  in  the  whole  mass  of  colonial 
account  of  literature  a  piece  to  surpass  in  interest  the  vivid  and  con- 
Bacon's  re-  vincing  narrative  entitled  "The  Beginning.  Progress  and 

bellion,  1675- 

1676  Conclusion  of  Bacon's  Rebellion  in  Virginia."    The  ac- 

[33]  count  was  written  in  1705,  at  the  request  of  Lord  Oxford, 
by  a  Virginia  planter  and  fellow-member  of  Bacon's  in  the 
House  of  Burgesses  of  1676,  who  signs  himself  simply 
T.  M.  The  manuscript  was  bought  by  the  American 
minister  in  London,  at  a  bookseller's  sale,  and  sent  to 
President  Jefferson  (December  20,  1803),  who  had  a  copy 
made  for  publication  in  the  RicJimond  Enquirer,  Septem 
ber  i,  5,  8,  1804. 

My  dwelling  was  in  Northumberland,  the  lowest  county  on 
the  Potomack  river,  where  having  also  a  plantation,  servants, 
cattle  &c.,  my  overseer  there  had  agreed  with  one  Robert  Hen 
to  come  thither  and  be  my  herdsman,  who  then  lived  ten  miles 
above  it ;  but  on  a  Sabbath  day  morning,  in  the  summer  anno 
1675,  people  in  their  way  to  Church  saw  this  Hen  lying  thwart 
his  threshold,  and  an  Indian  without  the  door,  both  chopt  on 
their  heads,  arms,  and  other  parts,  as  if  done  with  Indian 
hatchetts,  the  Indian  was  dead,  but  Hen  when  asked  who  did 
that  ?  answered  Doegs,  Doegs,  and  soon  died,  then  a  boy  came 
out  from  under  the  bed  where  he  had  hid  himself,  and  told  them 

1  Charles  II,  ignoring  the  Commonwealth  and  Protectorate,  the  years 
of  his  exile,  dated  his  reign  from  his  father's  execution  in  1649. 


The  English  Colonies  31 

Indians  had  come  at  break  of  day  and  done  those  murders. 
Ffrom  this  Englishman's  bloud  did  (by  degrees)  arise  Bacons 
rebellion  with  the  following  mischiefs  which  overspread  all  Vir 
ginia  and  twice  endangered  Maryland,  as  by  the  ensuing  account 
is  evident.  .  .  . 

Frequent  complaints  of  bloodshed  were  sent  to  Sir  William 
Berkeley  (then  Govern'r)  from  the  heads  of  the  rivers,  which 
were  as  often  answered  with  promises  of  assistance.  These  at 
the  head  of  James  and  York  rivers  .  .  .  grew  impatient  at  the 
many  slaughters  of  their  neighbors  and  rose  for  their  own  de 
fence,  who  chusing  Mr.  Bacon  for  their  leader  sent  oftentimes 
to  the  Govern'r  humbly  beseeching  a  commission  to  go  against 
those  Indians  at  their  own  charge,  which  his  hono'r  as  often 
promised,  but  did  not  send.  .  .  . 

During  these  protractions  and  people  often  slaine  ...  300 
men  taking  Mr.  Bacon  for  their  coman'r  met  and  concerted 
[discussed]  together  the  danger  of  going  without  a  comiss'n 
on  the  one  part  and  the  continuall  murders  of  their  neighbors 
on  th'  other  part  [not  knowing  whose  or  how  many  of  their  own 
turns  might  be  next]  and  came  to  this  resolution  viz. :  to  prepare 
themselves  with  necessaries  for  a  march,  but  interim  to  send 
again  for  a  comission,  which  if  could  or  could  not  be  obteyned 
by  a  certaine  day,  they  would  proceed  comission  or  no  comission. 

This  day  lapsing  and  no  com'n  come,  they  march'd  into  the 
wilderness  in  quest  of  these  Indians  after  whom  the  Govern'r  sent 
his  proclamacon  denouncing  all  rebells,  who  should  not  return 
within  a  limited  day  .  .  .  but  Mr.  Bacon,  with  5  7  men,  preceded 

untill  their  provisions  were  near  spent  without  finding  enemy s 

The  circumstances  of  this  expedicon  [expedition]  Mr.  Bacon  en 
tertained  me  with  at  his  own  chamber  on  a  visit  I  made  him.  .  .  . 

Bacon  was  pardoned  by  Governor  Berkeley  after  this 
fruitless  expedition  and  given  a  seat  in  the  Governor's 
Council  (to  keep  him  out  of  the  Assembly  ?),  but  still  he 
persisted  in  his  demand  for  a  commission,  and  finally  fled 
from  Jamestown  and  again  put  himself  at  the  head  of  a 
body  of  men  up  the  river. 


32  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

In  three  or  ffour  daies  after  this  escape,  upon  news,  that 
Mr.  Bacon  was  30  miles  up  the  river  at  the  head  of  400  men, 
the  Govern'r  sent  to  the  parts  adjacent,  on  both  sides  James 
river,  for  the  militia  ...  to  come  and  defend  the  town  .  .  . 
who  att  2  of  the  clock  entered  the  town  without  being  with 
stood,  and  formed  a  body  upon  a  green  not  a  flight  shot  from 
the  end  of  the  state  house,  of  horse  and  ffoot  as  well  as  veteran 
troops.  .  .  . 

In  less  than  an  hour  more  Mr.  Bacon  came  with  a  file  of 
ffusileers  on  either  hand  near  the  corner  of  the  state  house, 
where  the  Govern'r  and  Councill  went  forth  to  meet  him.  We 
saw  from  the  window *  the  Govern'r  open  his  breast,  and  Bacon 
strutting  betwixt  his  two  files  of  men  with  his  left  arm  on  kenbow 
[akimbo]  flinging  his  right  arm  every  way  .  .  .  when  in  two 
minutes  the  Govern'r  walked  toward  his  private  apartment  a 
coits  cast  distant  at  the  other  end  of  the  state  house  .  .  .  and 
after  him  walked  Mr.  Bacon  with  outragious  postures  of  his 
head  arms  body,  and  leggs,  often  tossing  his  hand  from  his 
sword  to  his  hat,  and  after  him  came  a  detachment  of  ffusileers 
. .  .  who  presented  their  ffusils  [guns]  at  a  window  of  the  assembly 
chamber  filled  with  faces,  repeating  with  menacing  voices  "  we 
will  have  it,  we  wall  have  itt.2 "...  In  this  hubub  a  servant  of 
mine  got  so  near  as  to  hear  the  Govern'rs  words  .  .  .  when  he 
opened  his  breast  he  said  "  here !  shoot  me,  foregod  fair  mark 
shoot,"  often  rehearsing  the  same  .  .  .  whereto  Mr.  Bacon 
answered,  "  no  may  it  please  yo'r  hono'r  we  will  not  hurt  a 
hair  of  yo'r  head  ...  we  are  come  for  a  comission  to  save 
our  lives  from  th'  Indians,  which  you  have  so  often  promised, 
and  now  we  will  have  it  before  we  go."  .  .  . 

In  an  hour  more  after  these  violent  concussions  Mr.  Bacon 
came  up  to  our  chamber  and  desired  a  comission  from  us.  ... 
Our  speaker  sat  silent,  while  one  Mr.  Blayton  a  neighbor  to 
Mr.  Bacon  .  .  .  answered  "  twas  not  in  our  province,  or  power, 
nor  of  any  other,  save  the  king's  vicegerent  our  govern'r,"  he 
pressed  hard  nigh  half  an  hours  harangue  on  the  preserving 

1  The  window  of  the  state  house  where  the  Burgesses,  of  whom  T.  M. 
was  a  member,  were  assembled  as  anxious  spectators. 

2  That  is,  the  commission. 


The  English  Colonies  33 

our  lives  from  the  Indians  .  .  .  whereto  having  no  other  answer, 
he  went  away  dissatisfied.  .  .  . 

We  had  account  that  Generall  Bacon  was  march'd  with  a 
thousand  men  into  the  fforest  to  seek  the  enemy  Indians,  and 
in  a  few  daies  after  our  next  news  was  that  the  govern'r  had 
sumoned  together  the  militia  ...  to  the  number  of  1200  men 
and  proposed  to  them  to  follow  and  suppress  that  rebell  Bacon  ; 
whereupon  arose  a  murmuring  before  his  face,  Bacon  Bacon 
Bacon,  and  all  walked  out  of  the  field,  muttering  as  they  went 
Bacon  Bacon  Bacon,  leaving  the  govern'r  and  those  that  came 
with  him  to  themselves,  who  being  thus  abandon'd  wafted 
[sailed]  over  Chesepiacke  bay  30  miles  to  Occomack,  where 
are  two  countres  of  Virginia.  .  .  . 

The  govern'r  made  a  2d  attempt  coming  over  from  Occo 
mack  with  what  men  he  could  procure  in  sloops  and  boats 
forty  miles  up  the  river  to  Jamestown,  which  Bacon  hearing  of 
came  again  down  from  his  forest  pursuit  .  .  .  and  stormed  and 
took  the  town  [Jamestown]  in  which  attack  were  1 2  men  slaine 
and  wounded,  but  the  govern'r  with  most  of  his  followers  fled 
back  down  the  river  in  their  vessells.  .  .  . 

Here  resting  a  few  daies  they  [Bacon  and  followers]  con 
certed  the  burning  of  the  town  .  .  .  and  laid  the  whole  town 
(with  church  and  state  house)  in  ashes,  saying  the  rogues  should 
harbor  no  more  there. 

On  these  reiterated  molestacons  [molestations]  Bacon  calls  a 
convention  at  Midle  plantation  15  miles  from  Jamestown  in  the 
month  of  August  1676,  where  .  .  .  writts  were  by  him  issued 
for  an  assembly  ;  and  .  .  .  one  proclamation  commanded  all  men 
in  the  land  on  paine  of  death  to  joine  him,  and  retire  into  the 
wilderness  on  the  arrivall  of  forces  expected  from  England,  and 
oppose  them  untill  they  should  propose  or  accept  to  treat  of  an 
accomodation  ...  so  the  whole  land  must  have  become  an  Acel 
dama1  if  God's  exceeding  mercy  had  not  timely  removed  him. . . . 

The  govern'r  went  in  the  fflet  to  London  ...  and  by  next 
shipping  came  back  a  person  who  waited  on  his  hono'r  in  the 

1  Aceldama,  "  the  Field  of  Blood,"  or  Potter's  Field,  for  the  burial 
of  paupers  in  Jerusalem.  Said  to  have  been  purchased  with  the  thirty 
pieces  of  silver  for  which  Judas  sold  Christ. 


34  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

voyage;  from  whom  a  report  was  whispered  about  that  the 
king  did  say  that  old  fool  has  hanged  more  men  in  that  naked 
country  than  he  [the  king]  had  done  for  the  murther  of  his 
ffather,  whereof  the  govern'r  hearing  dyed  soon  after  without 
having  seen  his  majestic ;  which  shuts  up  this  tragedy. 

THE  NEW  ENGLAND  SETTLEMENTS 

13.  The  com-  William  Bradford  was  governor  of  Plymouth  Colony 
gifms,  1620  almost  continuously  from  1621  to  his  death  in  1657.  His 
[34]  history  "Of  Plimoth  Plantation,"  begun  in  1630,  is  the 
source  from  which  the  material  for  all  the  subsequent  histo 
ries  of  the  pioneer  colony  in  New  England  has  been  chiefly 
drawn.  The  precious  manuscript  of  Bradford's  history 
disappeared  from  the  library  in  the  tower  of  the  Old 
South  Church,  Boston,  at  the  time  of  the  American  Revo 
lution.  It  was  found  in  1855  in  the  library  of  Fulham 
Palace,  the  residence  of  the  Bishop  of  London ;  and  after 
repeated  and  urgent  requests  it  was  given  by  the  English 
government  to  the  State  of  Massachusetts.  It  is  now  ex 
hibited  to  visitors  in  the  State  Library  at  the  Capitol.  The 
following  passages  contain  an  account  of  the  flight  of  the 
Separatists  to  Holland,  part  of  the  final  letter  written  to 
the  Pilgrims  by  their  pastor  John  Robinson,  on  their  depar 
ture  for  America,  and  the  Compact  which  they  made  in  the 
cabin  of  the  Mayflower  just  before  landing  at  Plymouth. 

[The  Separatists]  yet  seeing  themselves  thus  molested  1  and 
that  ther  was  no  hope  of  their  continuance  ther  [in  England], 
by  a  jointe  consente  they  resolved  to  goe  into  the  Low  Countries 
[Holland],  wher  they  heard  was  freedom  of  religion  for  all  men. 
...  So  affter  they  had  continued  togeither  aboute  a  year,  and 

1  James  I  on  his  accession  in  1603  determined  to  make  all  the 
Puritans  and  Brownists,  or  Separatists,  conform  to  the  worship  of  the 
Church  of  England  or  drive  them  out  of  the  land. 


The  English  Colonies  35 

kept  their  meetings  every  Saboth  in  one  place  or  other,  exercis 
ing  the  worship  of  God  amongstt  themselves,  notwithstanding 
all  the  dilligence  and  malice  of  their  adversaries,  and  seeing 
they  could  no  longer  continue  in  that  condition,  they  resolved 
to  get  over  into  Holland  as  they  could  :  which  was  in  the  year 
1607  and  1608.  ...  But  to  go  into  a  country  they  knew  not 
(but  by  hearsay)  wher  they  must  learne  a  new  language  and 
get  their  livings  they  knew  not  how  ...  it  was  by  many  thought 
an  adventure  almost  desperate  ...  and  a  misserie  worse  than 
death.  Espetially  seeing  they  were  not  aquainted  with  trad[e]s 
nor  traffique  (by  which  that  country  doth  subsiste)  but  had  only 
been  used  to  a  plaine  countrie  life,  and  the  innocent  trade  of 
husbandrey  ...  but  they  rested  on  God's  providence,  and  knew 
whom  they  had  beleeved.  .  .  . 

Being  now  come  into   the  Low  Countries  they  saw  many 
goodly  and  fortified  cities   strongly  walled  and  guarded   with 
troops  of  armed  men.1    They  also  heard  a  strange  and  uncouth 
language  and  beheld  the  differente  manners  and  customes  of 
the  people  with  their  strange  fashons  and  attires  ...  and  though 
they  saw  faire  and  bewtifull  cities,  flowing  with  abundance  of  all 
sorts  of  welth  and  riches,  yet  it  was  not  long  before  they  saw 
the  grimme  and  grisly  face  of  povertie  coming  upon  them  like 
an  armed  man,  with  whom  they  must  buckle  and  incounter 
yet  by  God's  assistance  they  prevailed  and  got  the  victorie. 
Being  thus  settled  .  .  .  they  continued  many  years  [1608-1620] 
m  a  comfortable  condition,  injoying  much  sweete  and  delighte- 
full  societie  and  spirituall  comfort  together  in  the  wayes  of  God, 
under  the  able  ministrie  and  prudente  governmente  of  Mr.  John 
Robinson  and  Mr.  William  Brewster  ...  and  if  at  any  time  any 
differences  arose  or  offences  broak  out  ...  they  were  nipt  in 
the  head.  betim[e]s  or  otherwise  so  well  composed,  as  still  love, 
peace  and  communion  was  continued. 

^  After  ten  or  a  dozen  years'  residence  in  Holland,  the 
Pilgrims  began  to  think  of  removing  to  the  New  World, 

1  The  Dutch  under  William  of  Orange  and  his  brothers  had  been 
maintaining  a  valiant  war  of  independence  against  Philip  of  Spain  since 
the  year  1567. 


36  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

"  not  out  of  any  newfangledness  or  other  such  like  giddie 
humor  .  .  .  but  for  sundrie  weightie  and  solid  reasons," 
which  were  their  growing  numbers,  their  political  and 
social  restraint  in  a  foreign  land,  their  disapproval  of  the 
"  Continental  morals,"  and  their  "great  hope  and  inward 
zeall "  of  converting  the  Indians  to  Christianity. 

So  being  ready  to  departe,  they  had  a  day  of  solleme  humili 
ation,  their  pastor  taking  his  texte  from  Ezra  8,  21  ...  upon 
which  he  spente  a  good  parte  of  the  day  very  profitably.  .  .  . 
The  nexte  day  the  wind  being  faire  they  went  aborde  .  .  .  where 
truly  dolfull  was  the  sight  of  that  sade  and  mournfull  parting .  .  . 
so  that  sundry  of  the  Dutch  strangers  that  stood  on  the  key  as 
spectators  could  not  refraine  from  tears.  ...  At  their  parting 
Mr.  Robinson  writ  a  letter  to  the  whole  company. 

Lovinge  Christian  friends,  I  doe  hartily  in  the  Lord  salute 
you  all  ...  though  I  be  constrained  for  a  while  to  be  bodily 
absente  from  you.  .  .  . 

Now  next  after  heavenly  peace  with  God  and  our  own  con 
sciences,  we  are  carefully  to  provide  for  peace  with  all  men  what 
in  us  lieth. ...  As  many  of  you  are  strangers,  as  to  the  persons, 
so  to  the  infirmities  one  of  another,  [you]  so  stand  in  neede  of 
more  watchfullness  this  way,  lest  when  shuch  things  fall  out  in 
men  and  women  as  you  suspected  not,  you  be  inordinately 
affected  with  them.  .  .  . 

And  lastly,  your  intended  course  of  civill  comunitie  will 
minister  continuall  occasion  for  offence,  and  will  be  as  fuell  for 
that  fire,  excepte  you  dilligently  quench  it  with  brotherly  for 
bearance.  .  .  .  Store  up  therefore  patience  against  the  evill 
day.  .  .  .  And  as  men  are  carfull  not  to  have  a  new  house 
shaken  with  any  violence  before  it  be  well  setled  and  the  parts 
firmly  knite,  so  be  you,  I  beseeche  you,  brethren,  much  more 
earful  that  the  house  of  God,  which  you  are  and  are  to  be,  be 
not  shaken  with  unnecessarie  novelties  or  other  oppositions  at 
the  first  setling  thereof.  .  .  . 

Lastly,  whereas  you  are  become  a  body  politik  ...  let  your 
wisdome  and  godliness  appeare,  not  only  in  chusing  shuch 


TJie  English  Colonies  37 

persons  as  doe  entirely  love  and  will  promote  the  commone  good, 
but  also  in  yeelding  unto  them  all  due  honor  and  obedience.  .  .  . 
Fare  you  well  in  him  in  whom  you  trust  and  in  whom  I  rest. 
An  unfained  wellwiller  of  your  hapie 
success  in  this  hopefull  voyage 

John  Robinson 

Arriving  off  Cape  Cod,  November  n  (21),  1620,  and 
realizing  that  they  were  outside  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Lon 
don  Company  which  had  granted  them  their  patent,  the 
Pilgrims,  in  order  to  assure  a  stable  government  on  landing, 
agreed  to  this  famous  compact  in  the  Mayflowers  cabin. 

In  the  name  of  God,  Amen 

We  whose  names  are  under-writen,  the  loyal  subjects  of  our 
dread  soveraigne  Lord,  King  James,  by  the  grace  of  God,  of 
Great  Britaine,  Franc,  and  Ireland  king,  defender  of  the  Faith, 
etc.,  having  undertaken,  for  the  glorie  of  God,  and  advance- 
mente  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  honour  of  our  king  and 
countrie,  a  voyage  to  plante  the  first  colonie  in  the  Northerne 
parts  of  Virginia,  doe  by  these  presents,  solemnly  and  mutualy 
in  the  presence  of  God,  and  of  one  another,  covenant  and  com 
bine  ourselves  togeather  into  a  civill  body  politick,  for  our  better 
ordering  and  preservation  and  furtherance  of  the  ends  afore 
said  :  and  by  vertue  hearof  to  enacte,  constitute  and  frame 
such  just  and  equall  lawes,  ordinances,  acts,  constitutions  and 
offices,  from  time  to  time,  as  shall  be  thought  most  meete  and 
convenient  for  the  generall  good  of  the  Colonie,  unto  which  we 
promise  all  due  submission  and  obedience.  In  witnes  wherof 
we  have  hereunder  subscribed  our  names  at  Cap-Codd,  the  1 1 
of  November,  in  the  year  of  the  raigne  of  our  soveraigne  Lord, 
King  James,  of  England,  France,  and  Ireland  the  eighteenth, 
and  of  Scotland  the  fiftie  fourth.  An0:  Dom.  1620. 

The  character  of  the  New  England  Puritan  has  always  14.  niustra- 
inspired  conflicting  sentiments  in  the  mind  of  his  critic.  ^character 
Steadfastness,  zeal,  and  intrepid  virtue  were  joined  in  him        j37j 
with  a  harsh  and  intolerant  judgment  of  the  least  deviation 


38  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

from  the  conduct  and  creed  prescribed  by  the  orthodox 
clergy.  Sweet  reasonableness  was  regarded  as  a  weak 
surrender  of  principle.  Thomas  Hutchinson,  the  royal 
Lieutenant-Governor  of  Massachusetts  on  the  eve  of  the 
American  Revolution,  writes  of  the  Puritans  in  his  "His 
tory  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay"  : 

In  the  beginning  of  1649  died  Mr-  Winthrop,  the  father  of 
the  country,  in  the  63d  year  of  his  age.  His  death  caused  a 
general  grief  through  the  colony.  .  .  .  He  was  of  more  Catholic 
spirit  than  some  of  his  bretheren  before  he  left  England,  but 
afterwards  he  grew  more  contracted,  and  was  disposed  to 
lay  too  great  stress  on  indifferent  matters.  He  first  proposed 
leaving  off  the  custom  of  drinking  one  to  another,  and  then 
procured  a  law  to  prohibit  it.  He  pursued  with  great  vehe 
mence  Mr.  Vane's  adherents.1  .  .  .  Some  writers  say  that  upon 
his  deathbed  when  Mr.  Dudley  pressed  him  to  sign  an  order  of 
banishment  of  an  heterodox  person,  he  refused  saying,  "  he  had 
done  too  much  of  that  work  already."  Mr.  Endicott  succeeded 
him  in  the  place  of  governor,  and  Mr.  Dudley  took  the  place 
of  deputy  governor. 

I  fancy  that  about  this  time  the  scrupulosity  of  the  good 
people  of  this  colony  was  at  its  height.  Soon  after  Mr.  Win- 
throp's  death,  Mr.  Endicot,  the  most  rigid  of  any  of  the  magis 
trates,  being  governor,  he  joined  with  the  other  assistants  in  an 
association  against  long  hair. 

In  every  age  indifferent  things  have  been  condemned  as  sin 
ful,  and  placed  among  the  greatest  immoralities.  The  text 
against  long  hair  in  Corinthians,2  as  contrary  to  the  custom  in 
the  apostle's  day,  induced  our  ancestors  to  think  it  criminal  in 
all  ages  and  all  nations.  ...  I  have  wondered  that  the  text 
in  Leviticus  [xix,  27]  "  Ye  shall  not  round  the  corners  of  your 
heads,"  was  never  brought  against  short  hair.  .  .  .  The  rule  in 

1  Sir  Harr.y  Vane,  Governor  of  Massachusetts  1636-1637,  supported 
Anne  Hutchinson  in  theological  heresy.  He  played  a  leading  part  in 
the  English  Civil  War  of  1642,  and  was  executed  twenty  years  later 
by  Charles  II. 

i  Cor.  xi,  14 :  "  If  a  man  have  long  hair,  it  is  a  shame  unto  him." 


The  English  Colonies  39 

New  England  was,  that  none  should  wear  their  hair  below  their 
ears.  In  a  clergyman  it  was  said  to  be  the  greater  offence.  .  .  . 
A  few  years  before,  tobacco  was  prohibited  under  a  penalty, 
and  the  smoak  of  it  in  some  manuscripts  is  compared  to  the 
smoak  of  the  bottomless  pit.  Some  of  the  clergy  fell  into  the 
practice  of  smoaking,  and  tobacco  by  an  act  of  government  was 
"  set  at  liberty."  In  England,  periwigs  came  into  use  soon  after 
the  Restoration  [1660].  In  New  England,  they  were  an  eyesore 
for  thirty  years  after,  and  did  not  generally  obtain  until  about  the 
time  of  the  revolution  [1689],  and  even  then  the  example  and 
authority  of  ...  ministers  in  England  besides  .  .  .  foreign 
protestant  divines  who  wore  wigs,  was  necessary  to  remove 
all  scruples  concerning  them. 

The  most  famous  of  the  Puritan  ministers  of  New  Eng 
land  was  John  Cotton,  who  came  from  the  old  Boston  in 
Lincolnshire  to  the  new  Boston  in  Massachusetts  in  the 
year  1633.  Settled  near  Cotton,  both  in  old  England  and 
New  England,  was  his  distant  relative,  Samuel  Whiting, 
who  has  left  us  a  biography  of  him. 

Well,  to  Boston  [England]  the  good  man  came  [from  Cam 
bridge  University],  and  for  three  years  he  preached  and  lived 
so  amongst  them  that  they  accounted  themselves  happy.  .  .  . 
But  it  pleased  God,  after  three  or  four  years  being  there,  that 
he  could  not  digest  the  ceremonies.  .  .  .  He  took  much  pains 
in  private,  and  read  to  sundry  young  scholars  that  were  in  his 
house,  and  sorr;e  that  came  out  of  Germany,  and  had  his  house 
full  of  auditors.  .  .  .  He  always  preached  at  the  election  of 
mayors  .  .  .  and  always  (if  he  were  at  home)  at  the  funerals 
of  those  of  the  abler  sort  that  died.  He  was  frequent  in  the 
duty  of  humiliation  and  thanksgiving :  in  which  I  have  known 
him  in  prayer  and  opening  the  word  and  applying  it,  five  or 
six  hours.  .  .  .  He  was  of  admirable  candor,  of  unparalleled 
meekness,  of  rare  wisdom,  very  loving  even  to  those  that  dif 
fered  in  judgment  from  him,  yet  one  that  held  his  own  stoutly, 
arete  tenens  accurateque  defendens l  what  he  himself  judged  to 

1  "  Strictly  holding  and  painstakingly  defending." 


4O  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

be  the  truth.  .  .  .  He  was  exceedingly  beloved  by  the  best  and 
admired  and  reverenced  of  the  worst  of  his  hearers.  He  had  many 
enemies  at  Boston,  as  well  as  many  friends,  and  some  that  rose 
up  against  him  and  plotted  secretly  to  undermine  him,  and  others 
that  practised  more  openly  against  him.  But  they  were  all  of 
them  blasted,  either  in  their  names,  or  in  their  estates,  or  in  their 
families,  or  in  their  devices,  or  else  came  to  untimely  deaths ;  which 
shows  how  God  .  .  .  owned  his  servant  in  his  holy  labors.  .  .  . 

And  God  bringing  him  and  his  company  over  [to  America] 
in  safety  .  .  .  there  grew  some  trouble  between  those  that  were 
to  settle  matters  in  church  and  Commonwealth.  But  Mr.  Cotton 
then  preaching  before  the  General  Court  an  excellent  sermon 
out  of  Haggai  ii.  "  Be  strong,  Zerubbabel,  and  be  strong,  Joshua, 
and  be  strong,  ye  people  of  the  land  "  etc.,  it  pleased  God  so 
to  compose  and  calm  spirits  that  all  apprehensions  were  laid 
aside,  and  they  were  .  .  .  much  encouraged.  ...  I  could  speak 
much  more :  but  at  this  present  want  strength.  ...  I  am  not 
like  to  live  to  see  such  another  in  New  England,  though  I  know 
that  God  is  able  to  double  the  spirit  of  that  Elias  upon  him  that 
succeeds  him.  .  .  .  It  is  well  for  both  Bostons  that  they  had 
such  a  light,  if  they  walk  in  the  light  .  .  .  and  truth  that  he  held 
out  to  them.  .  .  .  Amen 

The  following  extract  from  the  diary  of  John  Cotton's 
distinguished  grandson,  Rev.  Cotton  Mather,  "  the  Puri 
tan  saint "  of  Massachusetts,  shows  how  heavy  a  burden 
of  responsibility  the  Puritan  laid  upon  his  own  soul. 

3utt  one  special  Action  of  this  Day  [March  12,  1681]  was 
to  make  and  write  the  following : 

Resolutions  as  to  my  Walk  with  God 

Lord!  Thou  that  workest  in  mee  to  will,  help  mee  to  resolve 
I.  As  to  my  Thoughts. 

1.  To   endeavour  that   I   will  keep    God,  and    Christ,   and 
Heaven  much  in  my   Thoughts. 

2.  In  a  special  manner,   to  watch  and  pray,  against  .   .   . 
ambitious  Thoughts,   and   wandring  Thoughts  in   the    Times 
of  Devotion. 


The  English  Colonies  41 

II.  As  to  my  Words. 

1.  To  bee  not  of  many  Words,  and  when  I  do  speak,  to  do 
it  with  Deliberation. 

2.  To  remember  my  obligations  to  use  my  Tongue  as  the 
Lords,  and  not  as  my  own.  .  .  . 

3.  Never  to  answer  any  weighty  Question,  without  lifting  up 
my  Heart  unto  God,  in  a  Request  that  Hee  would  help  mee 
to  give  a  right  Answer. 

4.  To  speak  III  of  no  Man  •  except,  on  a  good  Ground,  and 
for  a  good  End. 

5.  Seldome  to  make  a  Visit,  without  contriving,  what  I  may 
do  for  God  in  that  visit. 

III.  As  to  my  daily  Course  of  Duties. 

1.  To  pray  at  least  thrice,  for  the  most  part  every  Day. 

2.  To  meditate  once  a  day.  .  .  . 

3.  To  make  a  Custome  of  propounding  to  myself,  these  Three 
Questions,  every  Night  before  I  sleep : 

What  hath  been  the  Mercy  of  God  unto  mee,  in  the  Day  past? 
What  hath  been  my  carriage  before  God,  in  the  Day  past  ? 
And,  If  I  dy  this  Night,  is  my  immortal  Spirit  safe  ? 

4.  To  lead  a  Life  of  heavenly  Ejaculations. 

5.  To  bee  diligent  in  observing  and  recording  of  illustrious 
Providences. 

But  in  all,  to  bee  continually  going  unto  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  as  the  only  Physician,  and  Redeemer,  of  my  Soul. 

Lord  !  Thou  that  workest  in  mee  to  do,  help  mee  to  perform. 
Penned  by,  Cotton  Mather ;  a  feeble  and  worthless, 
yett  (Lord'!  by  thy  Grace!}  desirous  to  approve  him 
self  a  Sincere  and  faithful  Servant  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  XXXVIth  Year  of  My  Age 

12  d.  12  m.  I697.1  This  day,  thro'  the  Forebearance  of  God,  I 
am  thirty-five  Years  old.  When  I  behold,  how  extremely  foolish 
and  carnal,  I  still  am  ...  at  this  Age,  my  Spirit  sinks  with 
Astonishment !  Lord  1  I  am  astonished  that  thou  has  Suffer'd 

1  Twelfth  day  of  the  twelfth  month,  1697.  As  March  i  was  still 
generally  observed  as  the  beginning  of  the  new  year,  this  date  is 
February  12,  1698. 


42  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

such  a  barren  tree,  to  stand  thus  long,  among  thy  People !  .  .  . 
I  did  spend  some  Time-extraordinary  [this  Day]  in  confessing 
and  bevvayling  the  Sins  of  the  Year  past,  and  giving  Thanks  for 
the  Mercies  of  the  year;  and  in  Supplications,  that  in  the  ensuing 
Year,  I  may  enjoy  the  Gracious  Presence  of  God  with  mee.  .  .  . 
Memorandum.  I  was  a  little  comforted  with  a  Word  spoken 
to  mee,  by  a  Gentleman,  a  Lawyer,  who  came  a  few  months 
ago  out  of  England,  and  who  since  hee  came  had  sett  himself 
a  little  to  observe  the  People  of  New  England  :  "Mr.  Mather, 
(said  hee)  I  can  tell  you  this  :  All  the  men  that  have  any  Vertue 
or  any  Reason  in  them,  I  find,  love  you,  and.  value  you,  and 
honor  you ;  but  all  the  base  People,  who  are  scandalous  for  Vice 
and  Wickedness,  hate  you,  and  can't  give  you  a  good  Word." 

15.  "inde-         From  the  restoration  of  the   Stuarts  to  the   English 
FnMassachu-  throne  m  1660  until  their  expulsion  in  1688,  there  was 
setts,  1664     great  uncertainty  in  the  New  England  colonies,  "  the  prin- 
I431         cipal  persons  both  in  church  and  state,"  as  Hutchinson  says, 
"  being  never  without  fearful  expectations  of  being  deprived 
of  their  privileges."    In  1664  their  fears  seemed  to  be  justi 
fied  by  the  tidings  that  some  men-of-war  were  coming  from 
England,  "with  several  gentlemen  of  distinction  aboard 
them."    The  General  Court  (legislature)  of  Massachusetts 
appointed  a  committee  to  visit  the  ships  and  warn  officers 
and  sailors  "  in  their  coming  ashore  to  refresh  themselves 
...  to  give  no  offence  to  the  people  and  laws  of  the 
place."    They  later  resolved  on  the  following  address  to 
King  Charles  II  : 

TO  THE  KINGS  MOST  EXCELLENT  MAJESTIE 

The  humble  supplication  of  the  General  Court  of  the 

Massachusetts  Colony  in  New  England 
Dread  Soveraigne 

Iff  your  poor  subjects,  who  have  removed  themselves  into  a 
remote  corner  of  the  earth,  to  enjoy  peace  with  God  and  man, 
doe,  in  this  day  of  their  trouble,  prostrate  themselves  at  your 


The  English  Colonies  43 

royal  feet,  and  beg  your  favor,  we  hope  it  will  be  graciously 
accepted  by  your  Majestic.  And  that,  as  the  high  place  you  sus- 
tein  on  earth  doth  number  you  among  the  gods,  so  you  will 
imitate  the  God  of  heaven  in  being  ready  to  maintain  the  cause 
of  the  afflicted,  and  the  rights  of  the  poor,  and  to  receive  their 
cries  and  addresses  to  that  end.  And  we  humbly  beseech  your 
majestic,  with  patience  and  clemency,  to  heare  and  accept  our 
plain  discourse,  tho  of  somewhat  greater  length  than  would  be 
comely  in  other  or  lesser  cases.  Wee  are  remote,  and  can  speake 
but  seldom,  and  therefore  crave  leave  to  speake  the  more  at 
once.  Wee  shall  not  largely  repeat,  how  that  the  first  under 
takers  for  this  plantation,  having,  by  considerable  summs,  pur 
chased  the  right  thereof,  granted  to  the  counsel  established  at 
Plimouth  by  King  James  your  royal  grandfather,  did  after  obtain 
a  patent,  given  and  confirmed  to  themselves  by  your  royal  father, 
King  Charles  the  first,  wherein  it  is  granted  to  them,  their  heirs, 
assigns,  and  associates  forever,  not  only  the  absolute  use  and 
propriety  of  the  tract  of  land  therein  mentioned,  but  also  full 
and  absolute  power  of  governing  all  the  people  of  this  place, 
by  men  chosen  from  among  themselves,  and  according  to  such 
lawes  as  they  shall,  from  time  to  time,  see  fit  to  make  and  estab 
lish,  being  not  repugnant  to  the  lawes  of  England  (they  paying 
only  the  fifth  part  of  the  oare  of  gold  and  silver  that  shall  here 
be  found,  for  and  in  respect  of  all  duties,  demands,  exactions, 
and  service  whatsover)  as  in  the  said  patent  is  more  at  large 
declared.  Under  the  encouragement  and  security  of  which  royal 
charter,  this  people  did,  at  their  own  charges,  transport  them 
selves,  their  wives,  and  their  families  over  the  ocean,  purchase 
the  lands  of  the  natives,  and  plant  this  colony  with  great  labor, 
hazards,  cost,  and  difficulties,  for  a  long  time  wrestling  with  the 
wants  of  a  wilderness,  and  the  burdens  of  a  new  plantation; 
having  also  now  above  30  yeares  enjoyed  the  aforesaid  power 
and  privilege  of  government  within  themselves,  as  their  un 
doubted  right  in  the  sight  of  God  and  man.  And  having  had, 
moreover,  this  further  favor  from  God,  and  from  your  Maj 
estic,  that  wee  have  received  several  gracious  letters  from  your 
royal  selfe,  full  of  expressions  tending  to  confirm  us  in  our 
enjoyments,  .  .  . 


44  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

But  what  affliction  of  heart  must  it  needs  be  unto  us,  that 
our  sins  have  provoked  God  to  permit  our  adversaries  to  set 
themselves  against  us  by  their  misinformations,  complaints,  and 
solicitations  (as  some  of  them  have  made  it  their  worke  for 
many  yeares)  and  thereby  to  procure  a  commission  under  the 
great  seal,  wherein  4  persons  (one  of  them  our  knowne  and 
professed  enemy)  are  impowered  to  heare,  receive,  examine, 
and  determine  all  complaints  and  appeals,  in  all  causes  and 
matters,  as  well  military  as  criminal  and  civil,  and  to  proceed 
in  all  things  for  settling  this  country  according  to  their  good 
and  sound  discretions,  etc.  Whereby,  instead  of  being  governed 
by  rulers  of  our  owne  choosing  (which  is  the  fundamental  privi 
lege  of  our  patent)  and  by  lawes  of  our  owne,  wee  are  like,  to 
be  subjected  to  the  arbitrary  power  of  strangers,  proceeding  not 
by  any  established  law,  but  by  their  own  discretions.  .  .  .  And 
tho  wee  have  yet  had  but  a  little  taste  of  the  words  or  actings 
of  these  gentlemen,  that  are  come  over  hither  in  this  capacity 
of  commissioners,  yet  we  have  had  enough  to  confirme  us  in 
our  feares,  that  their  improvement  of  this  power,  .  .  .  will  end 
in  the  subversion  of  our  all.  We  should  be  glad  to  hope  that 
your  Majestie's  instructions  (which  they  have  not  yet  been 
pleased  to  impart  unto  us)  may  put  such  limitation  to  their  busi 
ness  here,  as  will  take  off  much  of  our  feare ;  but  according  to 
the  present  appearance  of  things  we  thus  speak.  .  .  . 

If  these  things  go  on  (according  to  the  present  appearance) 
your  subjects  here  will  either  be  forced  to  seeke  new  dwellings, 
or  sinke  and  faint  under  burdens  that  will  be  to  them  intoller- 
able.  The  vigor  of  all  new  endeavors  in  the  several  callings  and 
occupations  (either  for  merchandize  abroad,  or  further  sub 
duing  this  wilderness  at  home)  will  be  enfeebled,  as  we  perceive 
it  already  begins  to  be,  the  good  of  converting  the  natives  ob 
structed,  the  inhabitants  driven  to  we  know  not  what  extremities, 
and  this  hopeful  plantation  in  the  issue  ruined.  .  .  . 

There  have  also  been  high  representations  of  great  divisions 
and  discontents  amongst  us,  and  of  a  necessity  of  sending 
commissioners  to  relieve  the  aggrieved,  &c.  Whereas  it  plainly 
appeares,  that  the  body  of  this  people  are  unanimously  satisfied 
in  the  present  government,  and  abhorrent  from  change,  and 


The  English  Colonies  45 

that  which  is  now  offered  will,  instead  of  relieving,  raise  up  such 
grievances  as  are  intolerable.  Wee  suppose  there  is  no  govern 
ment  under  heaven,  wherein  some  discontented  persons  may 
not  be  fouhd.  And  if  it  be  a  sufficient  accusation  against  a 
government,  that  there  are  some  such,  who  will  be  innocent  ? 
Yet  through  the  favor  of  God  there  are  but  few  amongst  us 
that  are  malcontent,  and  fewer  that  have  cause  to  be  so. 

Sir,  the  allknowing  God  knows  our  greatest  ambition  is  to 
live  a  poor  and  quiet  life,  in  a  corner  of  the  world,  without  of 
fence  to  God  or  man.  Wee  came  not  into  this  wilderness  to 
seeke  great  things  to  ourselves,  and  if  any  come  after  us  to  seeke 
them  heere  they  will  be  disappointed.  Wee  keep  ourselves 
within  our  line,  and  meddle  not  with  matters  abroad.  A  just 
dependence  upon  and  subjection  to  your  Majestic,  according 
to  our  charter,  it  is  far  from  our  hearts  to  disacknowledge. 
Wee  so  highly  prize  your  favorable  aspect  (tho  at  this  great 
distance)  as  wee  would  gladly  do  anything  that  is  within  our 
power  to  purchase  the  continuance  of  it.  ...  But  it  is  a  great 
unhappiness  to  be  reduced  to  so  hard  a  case,  as  to  have  no 
other  testimony  of  our  subjection  and  loyalty  offered  us  but 
this,  viz :  to  destroy  our  owne  being,  which  nature  teacheth  us 
to  preserve,  or  to  yield  up  our  liberties,  which  are  far  dearer 
to  us  than  our  lives,  and  which,  had  we  had  any  feares  of  being 
deprived  of,  wee  had  never  wandered  from  our  fathers  houses 
into  these  ends  of  the  earth.  .  .  . 

Royal  Sir,  it  is  in  your  power  to  say  of  your  poor  people  in 
New  England,  they  shall  not  die.  If  we  have  found  favor  in  the 
sight  of  our  king,  let  our  life  be  given  us  at  our  petition.  .  .  . 
Let  our  government  live,  our  patent  live,  our  magistrates  live, 
our  lawes  and  liberties  live,  our  own  religious  enjoyments  live, 
so  shall  we  all  yet  have  further  cause  to  say,  from  our  hearts, 
let  the  King  live  forever.  And  the  blessings  of  them  that  were 
ready  to  perish  shall  come  upon  your  Majestic  .  .  .  and  wee 
and  ours  shall  have  lasting  cause  to  rejoice,  that  we  have  been 
numbred  among  your  Majestie's 

Most  humble  servants 

and  suppliants 

25th  of  October,  1664 


46  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

The  later  years  of  the  Stuarts  brought  the  realization  of 
the  worst  of  the  New  Englanders'  fears.  In  1684  the 
Massachusetts  Charter  was  revoked  by  Charles  II,  and 
on  June  3,  1686,  Sir  Edmund  Andros  received  from  the 
new  king,  James  II,  a  charter  making  him  Captain  Gen 
eral  and  Governor  in  Chief  of  all  New  England.  Andros' 
tyrannical  behavior  is  set  forth  in  a  "  Declaration  of  the 
Gentlemen,  Merchants,  and  Inhabitants  of  Boston  and  the 
Country  Adjacent,"  published  the  day  of  his  overthrow, 
April  1 8,  1689. 

...  Sir  Edmund  Andross  arrived  as  our  Governour ;  who  be 
sides  his  Power,  with  the  Advice  and  Consent  of  his  Council,  to 
make  Laws  and  raise  Taxes  as  he  pleased ;  had  also  Authority 
by  himself  to  Muster  and  Imploy  all  Persons  residing  in  the 
Territory  as  occasion  shall  serve :  and  to  transfer  such  Forces 
to  any  English  Plantation  in  America,  as  occasion  shall  require. 
And  several  companies  of  Souldiers  were  now  brought  from  Eu 
rope,  to  support  what  was  to  be  imposed  upon  us,  not  without 
repeated  Menaces  that  some  hundreds  more  were  intented  for  us. 

The  Government  was  no  sooner  in  these  Hands,  but  care 
was  taken  to  load  preferments  principally  upon  such  Men  as 
were  strangers  to,  and  haters  of  the  People:  and  evryones 
Observation  hath  noted,  what  Qualifications  recommended  a 
man  to  publick  Offices  and  Employments,  only  here  and  there 
a  good  Man  was  used,  where  others  could  not  easily  be  had.  .  .  . 
But  of  all  our  Oppressors  we  were  chiefly  squeezed  by  a  crew  of 
abject  Persons,  fetched  from  New  York  to  be  the  Tools  of  the 
Adversary,  standing  at  our  right  hand ;  by  these  were  extraor 
dinary  and  intolerable  Fees  extorted  from  evry  one  upon  all 
occasions,  without  any  Rules  but  those  of  their  own  insatiable 
Avarice  and  Beggary ;  and  even  the  probate  of  a  Will  must 
now  cost  as  many  Pounds  perhaps  as  it  did  Shillings  heretofore  ; 
nor  could  a  small  Volume  contain  the  other  Illegalities  done  by 
these  Horse-Leeches  in  the  two  or  three  Years  that  they  have 
been  sucking  of  us ;  and  what  Laws  they  made  it  was  as  im 
possible  for  us  to  know,  as  dangerous  for  us  to  break.  .  .  . 


The  English  Colonies  47 

It  was  now  plainly  affirmed,  both  by  some  in  open  Council, 
and  by  the  same  in  private  converse,  that  the  People  in  New 
England  were  all  Slaves,  and  the  only  difference  between  them 
and  the  Slaves  is  in  their  not  being  bought  and  sold  ;  and  it  was 
a  maxim  delivered  in  open  Court  to  us  by  one  of  the  Council, 
that  we  must  not  think  the  Priviledges  of  Englishmen  would 
follow  us  to  the  end  of  the  World :  Accordingly  we  have  been 
treated  with  multiplied  contradictions  to  Magna  Charta,  the 
rights  of  which  we  laid  claim  to.  Persons  who  did  but  peace 
ably  object  against  the  raising  of  Taxes  without  an  Assembly, 
have  been  for  it  fined,  some  twenty,  some  thirty,  and  others 
fifty  Pounds.  Packt  and  pickt  Juries  have  been  very  common 
things  among  us.  ...  Without  a  Verdict,  yea,  without  a  Jury 
sometimes  have  People  been  fined  most  unrighteously ;  and 
some,  not  of  the  meanest  Quality,  have  been  kept  in  long  and 
close  Imprisonment  without  any  least  Information  appearing 
against  them  or  an  Habeas  Corpus  allowed  unto  them.  .  .  . 

Because  these  things  could  not  make  us  miserable  fast 
enough,  there  was  a  notable  Discovery  made  of  we  know  not 
what  Elaw  in  all  our  Titles  to  our  Lands :  and  tho  besides  our 
purchase  of  them  from  the  Natives ;  and  besides  our  actual 
peaceable  unquestioned  possession  of  them  for  near  threescore 
Years,  and  besides  the  Promise  of  K.  Charles  II  in  his  Procla 
mation  sent  over  to  us  in  the  Year  1683,  That  no  Man  here 
shall  receive  any  Prejudice  in  his  Free  Hold  or  Estate  .  .  .  yet 
were  we  every  day  told,  That  no  Man  was  owner  of  a  Foot  of 
Land  in  all  the  Colony  ;  Accordingly,  Writs  of  Intrusion  began 
everywhere  to  be  served  on  People,  that  after  all  their  Sweat 
and  their  Cost  upon  their  formerly  purchased  Lands,  thought 
themselves  Freeholders  of  what  they.  had.  And  the  Governour 
caused  the  Lands  pertaining  to  these  and  these  particular  Men, 
to  be  measured  out  for  his  Creatures  to  take  possession  of.  ... 

All  the  Council  were  not  ingaged  in  these  ill  Actions,  but 
those  of  them  which  were  true  Lovers  of  their  Country  were 
seldom  admitted  to  and  seldomer  consulted  at  the  Debates 
which  produced  these  unrighteous  things.  Care  was  taken  to 
keep  them  under  Disadvantages ;  and  the  Governor,  with  five 
or  six  more,  did  what  they  would.  We  bore  all  these  and  many 


48  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

more  such  Things,  without  making  any  attempt  for  Relief; 
only  Mr.  Mather,1  purely  out  of  respect  unto  the  Good  of  his 
Afflicted  Country,  undertook  a  voyage  into  England.  .  .  .  God 
having  through  many  Difficulties  given  him  to  arrive  at  White 
Hall,  the  King  more  than  once  or  twice  promised  him  a  certain 
Magna  Charta  for  the  speedy  Redress  of  many  things  which 
we  were  groaning  under :  and  in  the  meantime  said  that  Our 
Governor  should  be  written  unto,  to  forbear  the  Measures  that  he 
was  upon.  However,  after  this  we  were  injured  in  those  very 
things  which  were  complained  of.  ... 

We  do  therefore  seize  upon  the  Persons  of  those  few  /'//  Men 
which  have  been  (next  to  our  Sins)  the  grand  Authors  of  our 
Miseries :  resolving  to  secure  them,  for  what  Justice,  Orders 
from  his  Highness,2  with  the  English  Parliament  shall  direct, 
lest,  ere  we  are  aware,  we  find  ourselves  to  be  given  away  by 
them  to  a  Forreign  Poiver*  before  such  Orders  can  reach  unto 
us ;  for  which  orders  now  we  humbly  wait.  In  the  mean  time 
firmly  believing,  that  we  have  endeavored  nothing  but  what 
meer  Duty  to  God  and  our  Country  calls  for  at  our  Hands  :  we 
commit  our  Enterprise  unto  the  Blessing  of  Him  who  hears  the 
cry  of  the  Oppressed,  and  advise  all  our  Neighbors,  for  whom  we 
have  thus  ventured  ourselves,  to  joyn  with  us  in  Prayers  and  all 
just  Actions,  for  the  Defence  of  the  Land. 

There  follows  the  letter  dispatched  the  same  day  by  the 
chief  citizens  of  Boston  to  Governor  Andros,  who  had 
taken  refuge  in  the  Fort  : 

At  the  Town-House,  Boston,  April  18,  1689 
SIR, 

Ourselves  and  many  others  the  Inhabitants  of  this  Town,  and 
the  Places  adjacent,  being  surprized  with  the  peoples  sudden 

1  Reverend  Increase  Mather,  son-in-law  of  John  Cotton,  and  father 
of  Cotton  Mather.    See  No.  14,  p.  40. 

2  William,   Prince    of   Orange,   the    news    of   whose   coronation  in 
February,  1689,  had  not  yet  reached  New  England. 

3  There  was   considerable  fear  in  New  England   that  the   Roman 
Catholic  King  James  II  would  betray  the  Puritans  of  New  England  to 
the  French  in  Canada.    See  Randolph's  letter,  p.  50. 


The  English  Colonies  49 

taking  of  Arms;  in  the  first  motion  whereof  we  were  wholly 
ignorant,  being  driven  by  the  present  Accident,  are  necessitated 
to  acquaint  your  Excellency,  that  for  the  quieting  and  securing 
of  the  People  inhabiting  in  this  Country  from  the  imminent 
Dangers  they  many  ways  lie  open  and  exposed  to,  And  tendring 
your  own  Safety,  We  judge  it  necessary  you  forthwith  surrender 
and  deliver  up  the  Government  and  Fortification  to  be  preserved 
and  disposed  according  to  Order  and  Direction  from  the  Crown 
of  England,  which  suddenly  is  expected  may  arrive :  promising 
all  security  from  violence  to  your  Self  or  any  of  your  Gentlemen 
or  Souldiers  in  Person  and  Estate.  Otherwise  we  are  assured 
they  will  endeavour  the  taking  of  the  Fortification  by  Storm,  if 
any  Opposition  be  made. 

To  Sir  Edmond  Andross  K't 
(Signed  by  fifteen  of  the  prominent  citizens  of  Boston) 

Andros,  after  an  attempt  to  escape  to  the  frigate  Rose, 
which  was  lying  at  anchor  in  Boston  Harbor,  surrendered 
and  was  brought  to  the  Council  House  in  the  town, 
where  he  was  "  confined  for  that  night  to  Mr.  John 
Usher's  house  under  strong  guards,"  and  the  next  day 
conveyed  to  the  Fort  and  held  a  prisoner.  Among  the 
"  few  ill  Men  "  arrested  with  him  was  Edward  Randolph, 
who  was  particularly  odious  to  the  Bostonians  because  of 
his  violent  condemnation  of  them  in  a  report  to  Charles 
II  in  1680,  in  which  he  accused  them  of  usurping  the 
king's  prerogative  in  government,  of  refusing  the  oath 
of  allegiance,  of  protecting  the  "  murderers  "  of  Charles  I, 
of  insulting  the  king's  commissioners,  of  violating  the 
acts  of  trade  and  navigation,  and,  generally,  of  treating 
the  king's  letters  "of  no  more  account  than  an  old  number 
of  the  London  Gazette"  At  the  outbreak  of  the  "  Glorious 
Revolution  "  Randolph  was  promptly  put  in  jail,  whence 
he  wrote  (a  month  later)  the  following  letter  to  the  Gov 
ernor  of  Barbados : 


50  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

Gaol  in  Boston,  May  16,  '89 
SIR, 

By  a  heady  multitude  possessed  with  jealousyes  that  our 
Governor,  Sir  Edmund  Andros,  was  a  Papist  and  intended  to 
bring  in  the  French  and  Indians  to  cut  off  .the  inhabitants,  a 
generall  insurrection  was  intended  and  so  perfected  on  the 
1 8th  of  Aprill  last,  that  the  Governor  hoping  to  secure  himself  in 
our  fort,  missed  an  opportunity  of  going  aboard  the  Rose 
frigott  [frigate],  then  at  anchor  in  the  harbour,  and  so  being 
overpowered,  wee  were  taken  prisoners  of  warr,  as  the  silly 
multitude  told  us.  ...  We  have,  at  this  day,  above  100  persons 
equally  concerned  as  conservators  of  the  peace,  but  their  power 
signifies  nothing,  further  than  it  pleases  the  people ;  sometymes 
they  are  for  having  their  old  magistrates  reassume  their  former 
government ;  sometymes  to  form  a  new  modell  of  government ; 
but  their  being  many  more  ready  (and  of  necessity  disposed)  to 
pull  down  than  build  up,  they  know  not  what  to  be  att.  .  .  . 

I  must  confess  that  there  have  been  ill  men  from  New  York, 
who  have  too  much  studdied  the  disease  of  this  people,  and  both 
in  courts  and  councills  they  have  not  been  treated  well.  How 
ever,  nothing  done  can  amount  to  countenance  such  an  open 
rebellion  .  .  .  and  the  kingdome  of  England  cannot  loose  this 
country  nor  govern  it  without  some  respect  and  allowance  to  the 
weaknes  of  those  who  are  mislead,  and  the  force  of  education 
and  the  bias  of  common  prejudices.  However  we  are  at  present 
as  much  distracted  and  as  far  from  cementing  into  any  sort  of 
government  as  at  the  building  of  Babell.  God  onely  keeps  them 
£rom  destroying  us.  ... 

Sir,   I   wish   you  all  happiness    and    remain    your   humble 

servant  Ed.  Randolph 

THE  PROPRIETARY  COLONIES 

17.  TWO  ac-  Isaac  Jogues,  a  devoted  Jesuit  missionary  to  New  France 

early  New  (Canada),  was  captured  by  a  party  of  Mohawk  Indians  in 

York,  1643,  1642  on  his  way  to  his  mission  field  among  the  Hurons. 

[48]  After  a  year  of  cruel  torture  and  imminent  fear  of  death, 


The  English  Colonies  5 1 

as  he  was  dragged  from  one  Mohawk  town  to  another, 
Jogues  escaped  from  his  captors  and  fled  to  the  Dutch  at 
Fort  Orange  (Albany).  Thence  he  was  sent  down  the 
Hudson  to  New  Amsterdam  (New  York),  where  Governor 
Kieft  received  him  kindly  and  gave  him  means  to  return 
to  France.  The  zealous  missionary  came  back  to  the  new 
world,  only  to  suffer  martyrdom  at  the  scene  of  his  former 
tortures.  Shortly  before  his  death  Jogues  wrote  the  follow 
ing  description  of  New  Netherland  as  he  saw  it  in  1643  : 

New  Holland  —  which  the  Dutch  call,  in  Latin  Novum 
Belgium,  in  their  own  language,  Nieuw  Nederland,  that  is  to 
say  New  Netherlands  —  is  situated  between  Virginia  and  New 
England.  The  entrance  to  the  River  which  some  call  the  River 
Nassau,  or  the  great  River  of  the  North,  to  distinguish  it  from 
another  which  they  call  South  River  (and  some  charts,  I  believe, 
that  I  have  recently  seen,  the  River  Maurice l)  is  in  the  latitude 
of  40  degrees,  30  minutes.  Its  channel  is  deep  and  navigable 
by  the  largest  ships,  which  go  up  to  Manhattes  [Manhattan] 
Island,  which  is  7  leagues  in  circumference ;  thereon  is  a  fort 
intended  to  serve  as  a  nucleus  for  a  town  to  be  built,  and  to  be 
called  New  Amsterdam.  .  .  . 

There  may  be,  on  the  Island  of  Manhate  and  in  its  environs, 
about  4  or  five  hundred  men  of  various  sects  and  nations ;  the 
Director  General  told  me  that  there  were  eighteen  different 
languages  represented.  The  inhabitants  are  scattered  here  and 
there,  up  and  down  the  river,  according  as  the  beauty  or  con 
venience  of  a  site  appeals  to  each  one  to  settle.  Some  artisans, 
however,  who  work  at  their  trades,  are  located  under  cover  of 
the  fort :  while  all  the  rest  are  exposed  to  the  incursions  of  the 
savages,  who  in  the  year  1643,  when  I  was  there,  actually  killed 
about  forty  Dutchmen  and  burned  many  houses,  and  barns  filled 
with  wheat. 

1  The  Hudson,  or  North,  River  was  called  in  the  early  days  of  New 
Netherland  either  the  Nassau  or  the  Maurice,  after  the  Dutch  general 
Prince  Maurice  of  Nassau,  who  died  in  1625.  The  South  River  was  the 
Delaware. 


52  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

The  River,  which  is  very  straight,  and  flows  directly  from 
North  to  South,  is  at  least  a  league  wide  before  the  Fort.  The 
ships  are  at  anchor  in  a  bay  which  forms  the  other  side  of  the 
island,  and  they  can  be  defended  by  the  Fort. 

Shortly  before  I  arrived  there  3  large  ships  of  300  tons  had 
come  to  load  wheat.  Two  had  received  their  cargo,  but  the  3d 
could  not  be  laden  because  savages  had  burned  part  of  the  grain. 
These  ships  had  sailed  from  the  West  Indies,  where  the  West 
India  Company  usually  maintains  seventeen  war  ships. 

There  is  no  exercise  of  Religion  except  the  Calvinist ;  and  all 
but  Calvinists  are  forbidden  to  enter  the  colony ;  still  the  orders 
are  not  obeyed,  for  besides  Calvinists  there  are  in  this  settle 
ment  Catholics,  English  Puritans,  Lutherans,  Anabaptists  whom 
they  call  Mnistes  (Mennonites),  etc.  When  any  one  comes  for 
the  first  time  to  dwell  in  the  country  they  furnish  him  horses, 
cows,  etc.,  and  give  him  provisions  —  all  which  he  repays  when 
he  is  well  settled :  and  as  for  lands,  at  the  end  of  ten  years  he 
gives  the  Company  of  the  West  indies  a  tenth  of  the  produce 
that  he  gathers. 

This  country  has  for  limits  on  the  New  England  side  a  River 
which  they  call  the  Fresh  River,  which  serves  as  a  boundary 
between  them  and  the  English ; 1  nevertheless  the  English  ap 
proach  them  very  closely,  preferring  to  have  lands  among  the 
Dutch,  who  require  nothing  from  them,  to  depending  upon  Eng 
lish  Milords,  who  exact  rents  and  like  to  put  on  airs  of  being 
absolute.  On  the  other  side — the  Southern,  toward  Virginia  — 
it  has  for  limits  the  River  which  they  call  South  River,  on  which 
there  is  also  a  Dutch  settlement2;  but  at  its  entrance  the  Swedes 
have  another,  extremely  well  equipped  with  cannon  and  people. 
It  is  believed  that  these  Swedes  are  maintained  by  Amsterdam 
merchants,  incensed  because  the  "Company  of  the  West  Indies 
monopolizes  all  the  trade  of  these  regions.  .  .  . 

1  The   Fresh   River  (Connecticut)  was  named   in   1614  by  Adrian 
Block.   For  the  boundary  treaty  between  Dutch  and  English,  see  No.  18, 

P-59- 

2  Fort   Nassau    (near   Gloucester,  New  Jersey)   on  the    Delaware, 
settled  in   1623. 


The  English  Colonies  53 

During  about  50  years  the  Dutch  have  frequented  these  re 
gions.1  In  the  year  1615  the  fort  was  begun;  about  20  years 
ago  they  began  to  make  a  settlement :  and  now  there  is  already 
some  little  trade  with  Virginia  and  New  England. 

The  first  arrivals  found  lands  there  quite  suitable  for  use, 
already  cleared  by  the  savages,  who  tilled  their  fields  there. 
Those  who  have  come  since  have  made  clearings  in  the  woods, 
which  are  commonly  of  oak.  The  lands  are  good.  Deer  hunt 
ing  is  abundant  toward  autumn.  There  are  some  dwellings  built 
of  stone :  they  make  the  lime  with  oyster  shells,  of  which  there 
are  great  heaps  made  in  former  times  by  the  savages,  who  live 
in  part  by  that  fishery. 

The  climate  there  is  very  mild :  as  the  region  is  situated  at 
40  and  two  thirds  degrees,  there  are  plenty  of  European  fruits, 
as  apples,  pears,  cherries.  I  arrived  there  in  October,  and  even 
then  I  found  many  Peaches.  Ascending  the  River  as  far  as  the 
43d  degree,  you  find  the  2nd  settlement  [Albany],  which  the 
flow  and  Ebb  of  the  tide  reaches,  but  extends  no  further.  Ships 
of  100  and  a  hundred  and  twenty  tons  can  land  there.  .  .  . 

Eighteen  years  after  Jogues'  visit  another  traveler  pass 
ing  through  New  Amsterdam  wrote  a  "Description  of  the 
Towne  of  Mannadens,"  1661.  This  brief  document  (dis 
covered  a  few  years  ago  in  London)  is  anonymous.  The 
author  may  have  been  one  of  the  company  of  Governor 
Winthrop  of  Connecticut,  who  in  the  year  the  "  Descrip 
tion  "  was  written  was  commissioned  to  obtain  a  charter 
for  Connecticut,  and  set  sail  from  New  Amsterdam  in 
the  Dutch  vessel  De  Trouiv.  After  describing  the  "  Easter- 
side,"  the  "Wester-side,"  and  the  "Souther-side  or  round 
head  "  (Battery  Point)  of  the  town,  the  author  continues  : 

Within  the  towne,  in  the  midway  between  the  N.  W.  corner 
and  N.  E.  gate,  the  ground  hath  a  smal  descent  on  each  side 

1  This  is  an  exaggeration.  The  Dutch  had  "  frequented  "  the  regions 
for  only  about  thirty  years  at  the  time  of  Jogues'  visit  in  1643. 


54  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

much  alike,  and  so  continues  through  the  towne  unto  the  arme 
of  water  on  the  Easter-side  of  the  Towne :  by  help  of  this  de 
scent  they  have  made  a  gut  almost  through  the  Towne,  keyed 
it  on  both  sides  with  timber  and  boards  as  far  in  as  the  three 
small  bridges :  and  near  the  coming  into  the  gut  they  have  built 
two  firme  timber  bridges  with  railes  on  each  side.  At  low  water 
the  gut  is  dry,  at  high  water  boats  come  into  it,  passing  under 
the  two  bridges,  and  go  as  far  as  the  3  small  bridges.1  In  the 
country  stand  houses  in  several  places. 

The  bay  between  Long  iland  and  the  maine  [sea]  below  the 
town  and  Southwest  of  Nut  iland  [Governor's  Island]  within  the 
heads,2  is  6  mile  broad,  and  from  the  towne  unto  the  heads  'tis 
8  mile.  .  .  . 

The  towne  lyeth  about  40  deg.  lat,  hath  good  air,  and  is 
healthy,  inhabited  with  severall  sorts  of  trades  men  and  mar- 
chants  and  mariners,  whereby  it  has  much  trade,  of  beaver, 
otter,  musk,  and  other  skins  from  the  Indians  and  from  the 
other  towns  in  the  River  and  Contry  inhabitants  thereabouts. 
For  payment  give  wampen  and  Peage8  many  of  the  indians 
making,  wch  they  receave  of  them  for  linnen  cloth  and  other 
manufactures  brought  from  Holland. 

From  Long  iland  they  have  beef,  pork,  wheat,  butter,  some 
tobacco,  wampen  and  peage.  ^From  New  England  beef,  sheep, 
wheat,  flower,  bisket,  malt,  fish,  butter,  cider-apples,  tar,  iron, 
wampen  and  peage.  From  Virginia,  store  of  tobacco,  oxhides 
dried,  some  beef,  pork  and  fruit,  and  for  payment  give  Holland 
and  other  linnen,  canvage  [canvas],  tape,  thrid  [thread],  cordage, 
brass,  Hading  cloth,  stuffs,  stockings,  spices,  fruit,  all  sorts  of  iron 
work,  wine,  Brandy,  Annis,  salt,  and  all  useful  manufactures.  .  .  . 

From  Amsterdam  come  each  year  7  or  8  big  ships  with 
passengers  and  all  sorts  of  goods,  and  they  lade  back  beaver 

1  The  gut,  or  canal,  ran  through  the  present  Broad  Street,  continuing 
north  nearly  to  Beaver  Street.   It  was  constructed  in  1657-1659  to  drain 
the  swamp  on  the  east  side  of  the  town. 

2  The  "heads"  are  the  headlands  (Dutch,  Hoofden}  of  Staten  Island 
and  Bay  Ridge  just  above  the  entrance  to  New  York  harbor,  at  the 
Narrows. 

8  Wampen  and  Peage  =  wampumpeag  or  wampum,  the  polished 
shell  beads  which  the  Indians  used  commonly  for  money. 


The  English  Colonies  55 

and  other  skins,  dry  oxehides,  and  Virginia  tobacco.  Tis  said 
that  each  year  is  carried  from  thence  above  20000  sterl.  value 
in  beaver  skins  only. 

The  Governor  of  Manados  and  New  Netherland  [so  called 
by  the  Hollanders]  is  called  Peter  Stazan  [Stuyvesant].  He 
exerciseth  his  authority  from  thence  southward  [towards  Vir 
ginia]  as  far  as  Dillow-bay  [Delaware  Bay],  being  about  40 
leagues.  The  Suedes  had  a  plantation  in  Dillow-bay  formerly  ; 
but  of  late  years  the  Hollanders  went  there  [1655],  dismissed 
the  Suedes,  seated  themselves  there,  have  trade  for  beaver,  etc. 
He  exercises  also  authority  Eastwards  towards  New  England 
unto"  West  Chester,  wch  is  about  20  miles  and  inhabited  by  Eng 
lish.  Also  on  Long  Hand  inhabitants  as  far  as  Osterbay  [Oyster 
Bay].  .  .  .  The  said  iland  is  in  length  120  miles  east  and  west, 
between  40  and  41  deg.  lat.,  a  good  land  and  healthy.  The  other 
part  of  the  said  iland  Eastward  from  Osterbay  is  under  the 
authority  of  the  New  England  Colonies,  as  it  stretches  itself  on 
their  coast.  The  Christian  inhabitants  are  most  of  them  English. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Dutch  settlement  at  New  Am-  is.  Rivalry 
sterdam  kindly  feelings  existed  between  them  and  the  Pil- 


grim  settlers  at  Plymouth,  as  the  following  extract  from  English  in 
Governor  Bradford's  "Letter-book"1  attests,  written  in  ticut  valley, 
answer  to  a  letter  from  Isaac  de  Rasieres,  Secretary  of  Ito7-l65° 
the  Colony  at  New  Amsterdam,  March  19,  1627. 

To  the  Honourable  and  Worshipful  the  Director  and  Council 
of  New  Netherland,  our  very  loving  and  worthy  friends  and 
Christian  neighbours. 

The  Governour  and  Council  of  Plymouth  in  New  England 
wish  youi  Honours  and  Worships  all  happiness,  and  prosperity 
in  this  life,  and  eternal  rest  and  glory  with  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord 
in  the  world  to  come. 

1  This  letter  book  like  the  manuscript  of  "  Plimoth  Plantation"  (see 
No.  13,  p.  34)  disappeared  from  its  place  of  deposit  in  the  tower  of  the 
Old  South  Church,  Boston,  at  the  time  of  the  American  Revolution. 
It  was  found  in  a  mutilated  condition  in  a  grocer's  shop  in  Halifax, 
in  1894,  and  published  by  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 


56  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

We  have  received  your  letters  wherein  appeareth  your  good 
will  and  friendship  toward  us,  but  is  expressed  with  overhigh 
titles,  and  more  than  belongs  to  us,  or  than  is  meet  for  us  to 
receive :  But  for  your  good  will  and  congratulation  of  our 
prosperity  in  this  small  beginning  of  our  poor  colony,  we  are 
much  bound  unto  you,  and  with  many  thanks  do  acknowledge 
the  same.  ...  It  is  to  us  no  small  joy  to  learn  that  it  hath 
pleased  God  to  move  his  Majesty's  heart  to  confirm  that  ancient 
amity,  alliance  and  friendship,  and  other  contracts  formerly 
made  .  .  .  the  better  to  resist  the  pride  of  that  common  enemy 
the  Spaniards,  from  whose  cruelty  the  Lord  keep  us  both,  and 
our  native  countries.  Now  forasmuch  as  this  is  sufficient  to 
unite  us  together  in  love,  and  good  neighborhood  in  all  our 
dealings;  yet  are  many  of  us  further  tied  by  the  good  and 
courteous  entreaty  [treatment]  which  we  have  found  in  your 
country  ;  having  lived  there  many  years  with  freedom  and  good 
content.  .  .  .  Likewise  for  your  friendly  proposition  and  offer 
to  accommodate  and  help  us  with  any  commodities  and  mer 
chandize  which  you  have  and  we  want,  either  for  beaver,  otters, 
or  other  wares,  is  to  us  very  acceptable,  and  wre  doubt  not  but 
in  short  time,  we  may  have  profitable  commerce  and  trade 
together :  But  you  may  please  to  understand  that  we  are  but 
particular  colony  or  plantation  in  this  land,  there  being  divers 
others  besides,  whom  it  hath  pleased  those  Honorable  Lords  of 
his  Majesty's  Council  for  New  England  to  grant  the  like  com 
mission  and  ample  privilege  to  them  (as  to  us)  for  their  better 
profit  and  subsistence.  .  .  .  Yet  for  our  parts,  we  shall  not  go 
about  to  molest  or  trouble  you  in  any  thing  .  .  .  only  we  desire 
that  you  would  forbear  to  trade  with  the  natives  in  this  bay 
and  river  of  Narragansett  and  Sowames  which  is  (as  it  were) 
at  our  doors. 

May  it  please  you  further  to  understand,  that  for  this  year 
we  are  fully  supplied  with  all  necessaries,  both  for  clothing  and 
other  things ;  but  it  may  fall  out  that  hereafter  we  shall  deal 
with  you,  if  your  rates  be  reasonable.  .  .  . 

Thus  hoping  that  you  will  pardon  and  excuse  us  for  our 
rude  and  imperfect  writing  in  your  language,  and  take  it  in 
good  part ;  because  for  want  of  use  [practice],  we  cannot  so 


The  English  Colonies  57 

well  express  that  we  understand  ;  nor  happily  understand  every 
thing  so  fully  as  we  should.  And  so  we  humbly  pray  the  Lord, 
for  his  mercy's  sake,  that  he  will  take  both  us  and  our  native 
countries,  into  his  holy  protection  and  defence.  Amen. 

By  the  Governour  and  Council, 
your  Honours'  and  Worships' very 

good  friends  and  neighbours 
New  Plymouth,  March  i9th 

"After  this,"  as  the  historian  Bradford  writes,  "  ther 
was  many  passages  between  them  both  by  letters  and  other 
entercourse,  and  they  had  some  profitable  commerce  to 
gether  for  diverce  years  till  other  occasions  interrupted 
the  same."  The  "  other  occasions  "  were  signs  of  rivalry 
between  the  Dutch  and  the  English  for  the  valley  of  the 
Connecticut  River.  The  Dutch  built  Fort  Good  Hope  (on 
the  site  of  Hartford),  but  did  not  have  sufficient  men  to 
hold  it.  The  English  then 

invaded  and  usurped  the  entire  Fresh  river,  and  finally  sunk  so 
low  in  shamelessness  that  they  seized  in  the  year  1640  the 
Company's  land  around  the  Fort  .  .  .  beat  the  Company's 
people  with  sticks  and  clubs  .  .  .  forcibly  threw  their  plows  and 
other  implements  into  the  river  .  . .  and  impounded  their  horses. 

In  July,  1649,  the  Dutch  of  New  Netherland  sent  a 
Remonstrance  to  the  States  General  in  Holland,  recount 
ing  these  outrages  and  asserting  the  claim  of  the  Dutch 
to  the  Fresh  River. 

In  the  beginning,  before  the  English  were  ever  spoken  of, 
our  people,  as  we  find  it  written,  first  carefully  explored  and 
discovered  the  northern  parts  of  New  Netherland  and  some 
distance  on  the  other  side  of  Cape  Cod.  And  even  planted  an 
ensign  on,  and  took  possession  of  Cape  Cod.  Anno  1614,  our 
traders  not  only  trafficked  at  the  Fresh  River,  but  had  also 
ascended  it  before  any  English  people  had  ever  dreamed  of 


58  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

coming  there ;  the  latter  arrived  there  for  the  first  time  in  the 
year  1636,  after  our  Fort  Good  Hope  had  been  a  long  time  in 
existence,  and  almost  all  the  land  on  both  sides  of  the  river  had 
been  bought  by  our  people  from  the  Indians,  which  purchase 
took  place  principally  in  the  year  1632  :  and  Kievits  hook 
[Saybrook  Point]  was  purchased  at  that  time  also  by  one  Hans 
Eencluys,  an  officer  of  the  Company.  The  State's  arms  were 
also  affixed  at  this  Hook  to  a  tree  in  token  of  possession,  but 
the  English,  who  still  occupy  the  Fresh  River,  threw  them  down, 
and  engraved  a  fool's  face  in  their  stead.  Whether  this  was 
done  by  authority  or  not  we  cannot  say :  such  is  probable 
and  no  other  than  an  affirmative  opinion  can  be  entertained ; 
this  much  has  come  to  pass  —  they  have  been  informed  of  it 
in  various  letters,  which  have  never  produced  any  result ;  but 
they  have  in  addition,  contra  jus  gentium  per  fas  et  nefas^  in 
vaded  the  whole,  because,  as  they  say,  the  land  lay  unoccupied 
and  waste,  which  was  none  of  their  business,  and,  besides,  was 
not  true ;  for  on  the  river  a  fort  had  already  been  erected, 
which  continued  to  be  occupied  by  a  garrison.  Adjoining  the 
fort  was  also  a  neat  bouwery  [farm]  belonging  to  the  Dutch 
or  the  Company ;  and  most  of  the  land  was  purchased  and 
owned.  .  .  . 

All  the  villages  settled  by  the  English  from  New  Holland  or 
Cape  Cod  unto  Stamford,  within  the  Dutch  limits,  amount  to 
about  thirty,  and  may  be  estimated  at  nearly  five  thousand 
persons  capable  of  bearing  arms ;  their  goats  and  hogs  cannot 
be  stated.  .  .  .  There  are  divers  places  which  cannot  be  well 
put  down  as  villages  and  yet  are  the  beginnings  of  them. 
Among  the  whole  of  these,  the  Rodenbergh  or  New  Haven  is 
the  principal ;  it  has  a  governor,  contains  about  thirteen  hun 
dred  and  forty  families,  and  is  a  province  or  member  of  New 
England,2  there  being  four  in  all.  This  place  was  begun  eleven 
years  ago,  in  the  year  1638,  and  they  have  since  hived  further 
out  and  formed  Milford,  Stratford,  Stamford  and  the  Trading 
House  already  referred  to. 

1  "Contrary  to  the  law  of  nations,  and  right  or  wrong." 

2  That  is,  the  New  England  Confederation,  formed  in  1643  by  tne 
colonies  of  Massachusetts,  Plymouth,  Connecticut,  and  New  Haven. 


The  English  Colonies  59 

Director  Kieft  hath  caused  divers  protests,  both  in  Latin  and 
other  languages  to  be  served  on  these  people,  commanding 
them  ...  to  desist  from  their  proceedings  and  usurpations ; 
and  in  case  of  refusal  warning  them  thereby  that  satisfaction 
should  be  required*  of  them,  some  time  or  other,  according  as 
circumstances  might  allow  ;  but  it  was  knocking  at  a  deaf  man's 
door,  for  they  did  not  heed  it,  nor  give  it  any  attention  ;  .  .  . 
General  Stuyvesant  hath  also  had  repeated  differences  with 
them  on  this  subject,  but  it  remains  in  statu  quo.  The  farthest 
that  they  have  ever  been  willing  to  come  is,  to  declare  that  the 
matter  could  never  be  arranged  in  this  country,  and  that  they 
were  content  and  very  desirous  that  their  High  Mightinesses1 
should  arrange  it  with  their  Sovereigns ;  and  this  is  very  neces 
sary,  inasmuch  as  the  English  already  occupy  and  have  seized 
nearly  the  half  of  New  Netherland  ...  so  it  is  earnestly  to 
be  desired  that  their  High  Mightinesses  would  please  to  press 
this  matter  before  it  proceed  further,  and  the  breach  become 
irreparable. 

In  the  year  following  this  spirited  protest  (1650)  com 
missioners  from  Governor  Stuyvesant  and  the  New  Eng 
land  colonies  agreed  on  a  boundary  line  between  New 
Netherland  and  New  England. 

Articles  of  agreement  made  and  concluded  at  Hartford  upon 
Connecticut,  Sept.  19,  1650,  betwixt  the  delegates  of  the  honored 
commissioners  of  the  united  English  colonies,  and  the  delegates 
of  Peter  Stuyvesant,  governor  generall  of  Newe  Netherlands. 
Concerning  the  bounds  and  lymits  betwixt  the  Englishe  united 
Collonies  and  the  Dutch  province  of  New  Netherlands,  wee 
agree  and  determine  as  followeth. 

i.  That  upon  Long-Island  a  Line  run  from  the  westermost 
part  of  Oyster-bay  and  so  in  a  streight  and  direct  line  to  the 
sea,  shall  be  the  bounds  betweene.  the  Englishe  and  the  Dutch 
there :  the  easterly  part  to  belonge  to  the  English,  the  wester- 
most  part  to  the  Dutch. 

1  The  States  General  of  the  Netherlands. 


60  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

2.  The  bounds  upon  the  maine  [main-land]  to  begin  upon 
the  west  side  of  Greenwich  bay,  being   about  4  miles  from 
Stamford,  and  so  to  run  a  westerly  line  20  miles  up  into  the 
country,  and  after  as  it  shall  be  agreed  by  the  two  governments 
of  the  Dutch  and  Newe  Haven,  provided  the  said  line  runn  not 
within  tenn  miles  of  Hudson's  river.  .  .  . 

3.  That  the  Dutch  shall  hould  and  enjoy  all  the  lands  in 
Hartford  that  they  are  actually  in  possession  of,  knowne   or 
sett  out  by  certaine  merkes  [marks]  and  boundes,  and  all  the 
remainder  of  said  lands  on  both  sides  of  Connecticut  river,  to 
be  and  remaine  to  the  English  there. 

And  it  is  agreed  that  the  aforesaid  bounds  and  lymyts  .  .  . 
shall  be  observed  .  .  .  both  by  the  Englishe  of  the  united  Collonies 
and  all  the  Dutch  nation,  without  any  encroachment  or  moles 
tation,  until  a  full  determination  be  agreed  upon  in  Europe,  by 
mutual  consent  of  the  two  states  of  England  and  Holland.  .  .  . 
Symon  Bradstreete  Tho  :  Willet 

Tho  :  Bruce  Theo  :  Baxter 

19.  New  Between  1650  and  1675  rivalry  for  the  carrying  trade 

be^me^New  of  the  world  gave  rise  to  tnree  wars  between  Holland  and 
York,  1664      England.    An  incident  in  this  struggle  was  the  seizure  of 
[491          New  Netherland,  in  1664,  by  an  English  expedition  and 
the  transfer  of  the  control  of  the  Dutch   colony  to  the 
King's  brother,  James,  Duke  of  York.    The  town  council 
of  New  Amsterdam  described  the  surrender  of  the  colony 
to  the  English  in  the  following  letter  written  to  the  Direc 
tors  of  the  West  India  Company  at  Amsterdam  : 

RIGHT  HONORABLE  LORDS  : 

We,  your  Honors'  loyal,  sorrowful,  and  desolate  subjects 
cannot  neglect  nor  keep  from  relating  the  event,  which  through 
God's  pleasure  thus  unexpectedly  happened  to  us  in  consequence 
of  your  Honors'  neglect  and  forgetfulness  of  your  promise  —  to 
wit,  the  arrival  here,  of  late,  of  four  King's  frigates  from  England, 
sent  hither  by  his  Majesty  and  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  York, 
with  commission  to  reduce  not  only  this  place,  but  also  the  whole 


The  English  Colonies  61 

New  Netherland  under  his  Majesty's  authority,  whereunto  they 
brought  with  them  a  large  body  of  soldiers,  provided  with  con 
siderable  ammunition.  On  board  of  one  of  the  frigates  were 
about  four  hundred  and  fifty  as  well  soldiers  as  seamen,  and  the 
others  in  proportion. 

The  frigates  being  come  together  in  front  of  Najac  in  the  Bay,1 
Richard  Nicolls,  the  admiral,  who  is  ruling  here  at  present  as 
Governor,  sent  a  letter  to  our  Director  General  [Stuyvesant], 
communicating  therein  the  cause  of  his  coming  and  his  wish. 
On  this  unexpected  letter,  the  General  sent  for  us  to  determine 
what  was  to  be  done  herein.  Whereupon  it  was  resolved  and 
decided  to  send  some  commissioners  thither  to  argue  the  matter 
with  the  General  [Nicolls]  and  his  commissioners,  who  were  so 
sent  for  this  purpose  twice,  but  received  no  answer,  than  that 
they  [the  English]  were  not  come  here  to  dispute  about  it,  but 
to  execute  their  order  and  commission  without  fail,  either  peace 
ably  or  by  force,  and  if  they  [the  Dutch]  had  anything  to  dispute 
about  it,  it  must  be  done  with  His  Majesty  of  England.  .  .  . 

But  meanwhile  they  were  not  idle ;  they  approached  with  their 
four  frigates,  two  of  which  passed  in  front  of  the  fort,  the  other 
anchored  about  Nooten  [Governor's]  Island,  and  with  five  com 
panies  of  soldiers  encamped  themselves  at  the  ferry,  opposite 
this  place,  together  with  a  newly  raised  company  of  horse  and  a 
party  of  new  soldiers,  both  from  the  North  and  from  Long  Island, 
mostly  our  deadly  enemies,  who  expected  nothing  else  than  pillage, 
plunder,  and  bloodshed,  as  men  could  perceive  by  their  cursing 
and  talking,  when  mention  was  made  of  a  capitulation. 

Finally,  being  then  surrounded,  we  saw  little  means  of  deliver 
ance  ;  we  resolved  what  ought  to  be  here  done,  and  after  we  had 
well  inquired  into  our  strength  and  had  found  it  to  be  full  fifteen 
hundred  souls  strong  in  this  place,  but  of  whom  not  two  hundred 
and  fifty  men  are  capable  of  bearing  arms  exclusive  of  the  soldiers, 
who  were  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  strong,  wholly  unprovided 
with  powder  both  in  the  city  and  in  the  fort ;  yea,  not  more  than 
six  hundred  pounds  were  found  in  the  fort,  besides  seven  hun 
dred  pounds  unserviceable ;  also  because  the  farmers,  the  third 

1  Nyack  or  Gravesend  Bay,  just  below  the  Narrows,  between  New 
Utrecht  and  Coney  Island. 


62  The  Establishment  of  the  English  . 

man  of  whom  was  called  out,  refused,  we  with  the  greater  portion 
of  the  inhabitants  considered  it  necessary  to  remonstrate  with 
our  Director  General  and  Council,  that  their  Honors  might  con 
sent  to  a  capitulation,  whereunto  we  labored  according  to  our 
duty  and  had  much  trouble ;  and  laid  down  and  considered  all 
the  difficulties,  which  should  arise  from  our  not  being  able  to 
resist  such  an  enemy,  as  they  besides  could  receive  a  much 
greater  force  than  they  had  under  their  command. 

The  Director  Generall  and  Council  at  length  consented  there 
unto,  whereto  commissioners  were  sent  to  the  admiral,  who 
notified  him  that  it  was  resolved  to  come  to  terms  in  order  to 
prevent  the  shedding  of  blood,  if  a  good  agreement  could  be 
concluded.  Six  persons  were  commissioned  on  each  side  for  this 
purpose  to  treat  on  this  matter,  as  they  have  done  and  concluded 
in  manner  as  appears  by  the  articles  annexed.  How  that  will 
result  time  shall  tell. 

Meanwhile,  since  we  have  no  longer  to  depend  on  your 
Honors'  promises  of  protection,  we,  with  all  the  poor,  sorrowing 
and  abandoned  commonalty  here,  must  fly  for  refuge  to  Almighty 
God,  not  doubting  but  He  will  stand  by  us  in  this  sorely  afflicting 
conjunction  and  no  more  depart  from  us :  And  we  remain 
Your  sorrowful  and  abandoned  subjects 
Pieter  Tonneman  [and  six  others] 

Done  in  Jorck  [York]  heretofore  named  Amsterdam  in  New 
Netherland  Anno  1664,  the  i6th  September. 

The  "  articles  annexed,"  to  which  the  councilmen  refer, 
granted  very  liberal  terms  to  the  surrendered  Dutchmen. 
Even  the  stern  old  Governor  Stuyvesant  came  back  from 
Holland  to  live  under  the  English  government  at  his  farm, 
the  "  Great  Bouwery,"  until  his  death  in  1672.  In  the 
articles  it  was  stated  that  .  .  . 

3.  All  people  shall  still  continue  free  denizens,  and  enjoy 
their  lands,  houses,  goods,  shipps,  wheresoever  they  are  within 
this  country.  .  .  . 


The  English  Colonies  63 

4.  If  any  inhabitant  have  a  mind  to  remove  himself  he  shall 
have  a  year  and  six  weeks  from  this  day  to  remove  himself,  wife, 
children,  servants,  goods,  and  to  dispose  of  his  lands  here. 

6.  ...  Dutch  vessels  may  freely  come  hither,  and  any  of 
the  Dutch  may  freely  return  home,  or  send  any  sort  of  merchan 
dise  home  in  vessels  of  their  own  country. 

8.  The  Dutch  here  shall  enjoy  the  liberty  of  their  consciences 
in  divine  worship  and  Church  discipline. 

9.  No  Dutchman  here,  or  Dutch  ship  here,  shall,  upon  any 
occasion  be  prest  to  serve  in  war,  against  any  nation  whatever. 

10.  That  the  townsmen  of  the  Manhatoes  [Manhattan]  shall 
not  have  any  soldier  quartered  upon  them  without  being  satisfied 
and  paid  for  them  by  their  officers.  .  .  . 

21.  That  the  town  of  Manhatans  shall  choose  Deputies,  and 
those  Deputies  shall  have  free  voices  in  all  public  affairs,  as  much 
as  any  other  Deputies. 

During  the  course  of  the  American  Revolution,  Robert  20.  The  rise 
Proud  of  Philadelphia  wrote,  and  dedicated  to  the  "  de-  ker 
scendants   of  the   first  colonists  and  early  settlers,"   his  ^50 
"History  of   Pennsylvania"   (1776-1780),   in  which   he       [531 
gives  the  following  account  of  the  rise  of  the  Society  of 
Friends,  or  the  Quakers.1 

Near  the  middle  of  the  iyth  century,  during  the  civil  war, 
in  England,  when  men  were  tearing  each  other  in  pieces,  and 
when  confusion  and  bloodshed  had  overspread  the  nation,  many 
sober  and  thinking  persons  of  the  different  religious  societies, 
weighing  the  uncertainty  of  human  affairs,  and  beholding  the 
various  vicissitudes  in  the  political  system,  after  having  examined 

1  "  The  name  of  Quakers,  or  Tremblers,  hath  been  in  reproach,  by  their 
enemies  cast  upon  them,  which  serveth  to  distinguish  them  from  others, 
though  not  assumed  by  them  :  yet  as  the  Christians  of  old,  albeit  the 
name  of  Christian  was  cast  upon  them  by  way  of  reproach,  gloried  in 
it,  as  desiring  above  all  things  to  be  accounted  the  followers  of  Christ; 
so  they  also  are  glad  the  world  reproacheth  them  as  such,  who  tremble 
before  the  Lord,  and  who  work  out  their  salvation  in  fear  and  trembling." 
Robert  Proud,  History  of  Pennsylvania,  Philadelphia,  1797,  Vol.  I, 
p.  30,  note. 


64  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

the  many  vain  and  futile  opinions,  and  absurd  customs,  in  religion, 
which  were  either  imposed,  practised,  or  insisted  on  by  the  various 
professors  of  Christianity,  under  all  denominations,  in  that  country, 
withdrew  themselves  from  their  assemblies  for  divine  worship ; 
and  having  their  minds  turned  to  what  appeared  to  them  more 
rational,  and  consistent  with  a  rightly  informed  understanding, 
and  a  life  more  congruous,  or  agreeable,  to  the  mind  of  that 
Deity  which  is  spiritual,  and  communicates  his  goodness  and 
knowledge  more  nearly  through  a  medium  of  his  bwn  nature ; 
and  places  the  human  mind  above  the  reach  of  terrestrial  influ 
ence;  they  thence  fell  into  that  practical  belief,  and  Christian 
conduct,  which  gave  rise  to  this  religious  society. 

It  was  not  until  the  year  1650  that  the  name  of  Quakers  was 
imposed  on  them  ;  who  had  before  generally  gone  under  the  de 
nomination  of  professors,  or  children,  of  the  light ;  but  the  most 
common  appellation,  by  which  they  distinguish  themselves  from 
others,  even  to  this  day,  is  by  the  name  of  Friends.  .  .  . 

This  is  the  first  and  chiefest  principle  held  by  them,  viz. : 
That  there  is  somewhat  of  God,  some  light,  some  grace, 
some  power,  some  measure  of  the  spirit,  some  divine,  spiritual, 
heavenly,  substantial  life  and  virtue,  in  all  men ;  which  .  .  . 
leads,  draws,  moves  and  inclines  the  mind  of  man  to  righteous 
ness,  and  seeks  to  leaven  him,  as  he  gives  way  thereto,  into  the 
nature  of  itself.  .  .  .  And  in  affirming  of  this,  they  do  not  at  all 
exalt  self,  or  nature,  as  do  the  Socinians  [Unitarians] ;  in  that 
they  freely  acknowledge  that  man's  nature  is  denied  and  cor 
rupted,  and  unable  to  help  him  one  step,  in  order  to  salvation.  . . . 
Nor  do  they  believe  this  seed,  light  and  grace  to  be  any  part  of 
man's  nature  .  .  .  ,  but  that  it  is  a  free  grace  and  gift  of  God, 
freely  given  to  all  men,  in  order  to  bring  them  out  of  the  fall, 
and  lead  them  to  life  eternal.  .  .  . 

Consistent  with  the  nature  of  this  universal  principle  .  .  .  ap 
pears  to  be  their  worship ;  which,  according  to  the  account  of 
it  given  by  themselves,  was  more  divested  of  those  numerous 
external  and  «bodily  exercises  and  performances,  which  either 
the  ignorance  or  ingenuity  of  men  had  introduced,  under  the 
specious  pretence  of  thereby  rendering  themselves  more  accept 
able  to  a  Spiritual  Being,  than  that  of  any  other  religious  societies 


The  English  Colonies  65 

known  to  them,  at  that  time,  under  the  name  of  Christians: 

a  worship  which  they  professed  to  be  spiritual,  and  performed 

in  the  mind;  not  being  confined  to  particular  persons,  times, 
places,  nor  ceremonies  .  .  .  according  to  the  New  Testament, 
which  expressly  declares,  "  that  the  worship  of  God  ought  to  be 
performed  in  spirit  and  in  truth''  This  is  the  only  precept,  or 
declaration,  concerning  divine  worship ;  and  the  manner  of  it, 
which  is  left  us  by  the  author  of  Christianity.  .  .  . 

Of  their  ministers  and  ministry,  W.  Penn  speaks  as  follows : 
"  They  were  changed  men  themselves  before  they  went  abroad 
to  change  others.  Their  hearts  were  rent  as  well  as  their  gar 
ments  ;  and  they  knew  the  power  and  work  of  God  upon  them 

"  They  coveted  no  man's  silver,  gold,  nor  apparel ;  sought  no 
man's  goods ;  but  sought  them,  and  the  salvation  of  their  souls : 
whose  hands  supplied  their  own  necessities,  working  honestly 
for  bread,  for  themselves  and  families.  .  .  . 

"  The  bent  and  stress  of  their  ministry  was  conversion  to  God, 
regeneration  and  holiness.  Not  schemes  of  doctrines  and  ver 
bal  creeds.  .  .  . 

"  They  did  not  shew  any  disposition  to  revenge,  when  it  was 
at  any  time  in  their  power,  but  forgave  their  cruel  enemies; 
shewing  mercy  to  those,  who  had  none  for  them.  .  .  . 

"  Their  known  great  constancy  and  patience  in  suffering  .  .  . 
and  that  sometimes  unto  death,  by  beatings,  bruisings,  long  and 
crowded  imprisonments,  and  noisesome  dungeons.  Four  of  them 
in  New  England  dying  by  the  hands  of  the  executioner,  purely 
for  preaching  among  that  people. 

"  Their  plainness  with  those  in  authority,  like  the  ancient 
prophets,  not  fearing  to  tell  them  to  their  faces,  of  their  private 
and  public  sins :  and  their  prophecies  to  them  of  their  afflictions 
and  downfall,  when  in  the  top  of  their  glory :  —  Also  for  some 
national  judgments :  as  of  the  plague  and  fire  of  London,  in 
express  terms." 

They  disused  vain  compliments  and  flattering  titles,  bowing, 
kneeling,  and  uncovering  the  head  to  mankind.  .  .  .  They  a\so 
used  the  plain  language  of  thou  and  thee  to  a  single  person, 
whatever  was  his  degree  among  men.  .  .  .  Nor  could  they 
humour  the  custom  of  good  night,  good  morrow,  God  speed:  for 


66  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

they  knew  the  night  was  good,  and  the  day  was  good,  without 
wishing  of  either;  and  that,  in  the  other  expression,  the  holy 
name  of  God  was  too  lightly,  and  unthoughtfully  used,  and 
therefore  taken  in  vain,  .  .  .  Their  disuse  of  all  gaming,  and 
vain  sports\  as  the  frequenting  of  plays,  horse-races,  &c.,  was  a 
custom  strictly  and  constantly  adhered  to  by  them.  .  .  .  Their 
entire  disuse  of  going  to  law  with  one  another  was  a  singular 
instance  of  their  uniform  oractice  of  Christian  love  and  charity. .  . . 
The  last  thing  that  I  shall  mention  is  their  maintaining  all  their 
own  poor,  at  their  own  expence  .  .  .  (besides  contributing  toward 
the  support  of  the  poor  of  other  societies  in  all  common/^r  rates 
or  taxes) :  insomuch  that  no  such  thing  as  a  common  beggar 
was  permitted,  or  known,  to  be  among  them,  of  that  society. 

An  example  of  the  sufferings  of  these  unoffending  people 
years  before  William  Penn  opened  a  refuge  for  them  in  the 
colony  of  Pennsylvania  is  furnished  by  the  following  letter 
of  King  Charles  II  to  the  authorities  of  New  England  : 

Trusty  and  Wellbeloved.  Wee  greet  you  well,  — 
Having  been  informed  that  severall  of  our  Subjects  amongst 
you,  Called  Quakers,  have  been  &  are  Imprisoned  by  you, 
wl:ereof  some  have  been  Executed,  &  others  (as  hath  been 
represented  to  us)  are  in  danger  to  undergoe  the  Like;  Wee 
have  thought  fitt  to  signify  our  Pleasure  in  that  behalf  for  the 
future,  And  do  hereby  Require,  that  if  there  be  any  of  those 
People  called  Quakers  amongst  you,  now  allready  Condemned 
to  suffer  Death,  or  other  Corporall  Punishments,  or  that  are 
Imprisoned,  &  obnoxious  to  the  like  Condemnation,  you  for- 
beare  to  Proceed  any  farther  therein,  But  that  you  forthwith 
send  the  said  Persons,  whether  Condemned  or  Imprisoned, 
over  into  this  our  Kingdom  of  England,  together  with  ther 
respective  Crimes  or  offenses  laid  to  ther  Charge,  to  the  end 
such  course  may  be  taken  with  them  here,  as  shalbe  agreeable 
to  our  Lawes  &  theire  Demerrits.  And  for  soe  doing,  these 
our  Letters  shalbe  your  warrent  &  sufficient  Discharge. 

Given  at  our  Court  at  White  Hall  the  gth  day  of  September 
1 66 1  in  the  13  yeare  of  our  Reigne 


The  English  Colonies  67 

No  other  colony  in   the   seventeenth   century  was   so  21.  Peopling 
widely,  wisely,  or  honestly  advertised  as  the  great  domain 
(almost  as  large  as  England  itself)  granted  to  William  Penn      [53] 
by  the  very  liberal  terms  of  Charles  II's  Charter,  March  4, 
1 68 1.    Scarcely  a  month  after  the  grant,  Penn  wrote  a  pro 
spectus  for  his  new  colony,  under  the  title  "  Some  Account 
of  the  Provin.ce  of  Pennsilvania,"  which  appeared  immedi 
ately  on  the  continent  in  Dutch  and  German  translations. 
When  Penn  sailed  himself  for  America,  in  August,  1682, 
over  600,000  acres  of  his  land  had  been  sold. 


SOME  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  PROVINCE  OF  PENNSILVANIA 
IN  AMERICA;  LATELY  GRANTED  UNDER  THE  GREAT 
SEAL  OF  ENGLAND  TO  WILLIAM  PENN,  ETC.  TOGETHER 
WITH  PRIVILEDGES  AND  POWERS  NECESSARY  TO  THE 
WELL-GOVERNING  THEREOF.  MADE  PUBLICK  FOR  THE 
INFORMATION  OF  SUCH  AS  ARE  OR  MAY  BE  DISPOSED 
TO  TRANSPORT  THEMSELVES  OR  SERVANTS  INTO 
THOSE  PARTS.  LONDON:  PRINTED  AND  SOLD  BY  BEN 
JAMIN  CLARK,  BOOKSELLER,  IN  GEORGE-YARD,  LOM 
BARD-STREET,  1681 

Since  (by  the  good  providence  of  God)  a  Country  in  America 
is  fallen  to  my  lot,  I  thought  it  not  less  my  Duty  than  my  honest 
Interest  to  give  some  publick  notice  of  it  to  the  World,  that 
those  of  our  own  or  other  Nations,  that  are  inclined  to  trans 
port  themselves  or  Families  beyond  the  Seas,  may  find  another 
Country  added  to  their  choice,  that  if  they  shall  happen  to  like 
the  Place,  Conditions,  and  Constitutions  (so  far  as  the  present 
Infancy  of  things  will  allow  us  any  prospect),  they  may,  if  they 
please,  fix  with  me  in  the  Province  hereafter  describ'd.  .  .  . 

Next  let  us  see,  What  is  fit  for  the  Journey  and  Place,  when 
there,  and  also  what  may  be  the  Charge  of  the  Voyage,  and 
what  is  to  be  expected  and  done  there  at  first.  That  such  as 
incline  to  go,  may  not  be  to  seek  here,  or  brought  under  any 
disappointments  there.  The  goods  fit  to  take  with  them  for 


68  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

use,  or  sell  for  profit,  are  all  sorts  of  Apparel  and  Utensils  for 
Husbandry  and  Building  and  Household  Stuff.  And  because 
I  know  how  much  People  are  apt  to  fancy  things  beyond  what 
they  are,  and  that  Immaginations  are  great  flatterers  of  the 
minds  of  Men ;  To  the  end  that  none  may  delude  themselves 
with  an  expectation  of  an  Immediate  Amendment  of  their  Con 
ditions,  so  soon  as  it  shall  please  God  they  arrive  there :  I 
would  have  them  understand,  That  they  must  look  for  a  Winter 
before  a  Summer  comes ;  and  they  must  be  willing  to  be  two 
or  three  years  without  some  of  the  conveniences  they  enjoy 
at  home :  And  yet  I  must  needs  say  that  America  is  another 
thing  than  it  was  at  the  first  Plantation  of  Virginia  and  New- 
England:  For  there  is  better  Accommodation,  and  English  Pro 
visions  are  to  be  had  at  easier  rates :  However,  I  am  inclin'd 
to  set  down  particulars,  as  near  as  those  inform  me,  that  know 
the  place,  and  have  been  Planters  both  in  that  and  in  the 
Neighbouring  Colonys. 

i  st.  The  passage  will  come  for  Masters  and  Mistresses  at 
most  to  6  Pounds  a  Head,  for  Servants  five  Pounds  a  Head, 
and  for  Children  under  Seven  years  of  Age  fifty  Shillings,  except 
they  suck,  then  nothing. 

Next  being  by  the  mercy  of  God  arrived  safely  in  September 
or  October,  two  Men  may  clear  as  much  Ground  by  Spring 
(when  they  set  the  Corn  in  that  Country)  as  will  bring  in  that 
time  twelve  month  40  Barrels,  which  amounts  to  two  Hundred 
Bushels.  ...  So  that  the  first  year  they  must  buy  Corn,  which 
is  usually  very  plentiful.  They  may  so  soon  as  they  are  come, 
buy  Cows,  more  or  less,  as  they  want,  or  are  able,  which  are  to 
be  had  at  easy  rates.  For  Swine,  they  are  plentiful  and  cheap ; 
these  will  quickly  increase  to  a  stock.  So  that  after  the  first 
year  .  .  .  they  may  do  very  well,  till  their  own  Stocks  are  suffi 
cient  to  supply  them  and  their  Families,  which  will  quickly  be 
and  to  spare,  if  they  follow  the  English  Husbandry,  as  they  do 
in  New- England  and  New- York.  .  .  . 

To  conclude,  I  desire  all  my  dear  Country-Folks,  who  may 
be  inclin'd  to  go  into  those  Parts,  to  consider  seriously  the 
premises,  as  well  the  present  inconveniences,  as  future  ease 


The  English  Colonies  69 

and  Plenty,  so  that  none  may  move  rashly  or  from  a  fickle,  but 
solid  mind,  having  above  all  things,  an  Eye  to  the  Providence 
of  God,  in  the  disposal  of  themselves.  .  .  . 

William  Penn 

Postscript : 

Whoever  are  desirous  to  be  concern'd  with  me  in  this  Prov 
ince,  they  may  be  treated  with  and  further  Satisfied,  at  Philip 
Fords  in  Bow  Lane  in  Cheapside,  and  at  Thomas  Rudyards  or 
Benjamin  Clarks  in  George  Yard  in  Lumbard-street. 

One  of  the  most  enthusiastic  advertisers  of  Penn's  colony 
was  a  very  cultivated  German  lawyer,  Francis  Daniel  Pas- 
torius,  who  emigrated  to  Philadelphia  in  1683  as  the  agent 
of  a  group  of  Frankfort  pietists  who  had  purchased  1 5,000 
acres  of  land  in  the  new  province.  Pastorius  lived  in  Ger- 
mantown,  as  its  chief  citizen,  till  his  death  in  1/19  or 
1720.  In  his  "Circumstantial  Geographical  Description 
of  Pennsylvania,"  published  at  Frankfort  and  Leipzig  in 
1700,  after  describing  the  discovery  of  the  province  and 
the  grant  of  the  charter  to  Penn,  Pastorius  continues : 

On  November  i,  1682,  William  Penn  arrived  in  this  province 
with  twenty  ships,  having  spent  six  weeks  upon  the  voyage. 
Even  while  they  were  yet  far  from  the  land  there  was  wafted 
to  them  as  delightful  a  fragrance  as  if  it  came  from  a  freshly 
blossoming  garden.  He  found  on  his  arrival  no  other  Christian 
people  save  those  alone  who  on  the  discovery  of  the  province 
had  been  put  there.1  Part  of  them  dwelt  in  New-Castle,  and 
part  upon  separate  plantations.  Penn  was  received  as  their 
ruler  by  these  people  with  especial  tokens  of  affection,  and 
they  most  willingly  discharged  their  obligation  of  submission 

1  This  is  an  error.  There  were  English,  Dutch,  French,  Swedes,  and 
Indians  in  the  province  when  Penn  arrived.  They  had  come  especially 
from  the  Dutch  and  Swedish  settlements  on  the  Delaware. 


7O  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

to  him.1  All  that  he  required  of  them  in  return  was :  A  tem 
perate  life  and  neighborly  love.  On  the  other  hand,  he  promised 
to  protect  them  in  both  spiritual  and  temporal  matters. 

Firstly,  no  one  shall  be  disturbed  on  account  of  his  belief, 
but  freedom  of  conscience  shall  be  granted  to  all  inhabitants  of 
the  province,  so  that  every  nation  may  build  and  conduct  churches 
and  schools  according  to  their  desires. 

2.  Sunday  shall  be  consecrated  to  the  public  worship  of  God. 
The  teaching  of  God  shall  be  so  zealously  carried  on  that  its 
purity  can  be  recognized  in  each  listener  from  the  fruits  which 
arise  from  it. 

3.  For  the  more  convenient  bringing  up  of  the  youth,  the 
solitary  farmers  living  in  the  province  shall  all  remove  to  the 
market-towns,  so  that  the  neighbors  may  help  one  another  in  a 
Christlike  manner  and  praise  God  together,  and  that  they  may 
accustom  their  children  also  to  do  the  same. 

4.  The  sessions  of  the  court  shall  be  held  publicly,  at  ap 
pointed  times,  so  that  everyone  may  attend  them. 

5.  Justices  of  the  peace  shall  be  appointed  in  the  rising  cities 
and  market-towns,  to  ensure  the  observance  of  the  laws. 

6.  Cursing,  blasphemy,  misuse  of  the  name  of  God,  quarrel 
ling,  cheating,  drunkenness,  shall  be  punished  with  the  pillory. 

7.  All  workmen  shall  be  content  with  their  stipulated  wages. 

8.  Each  child,  that  is  twelve  years  of  age,  shall  be  put  to 
some  handicraft  or  other  honorable  trade. 

The  Governor  William  Penn  laid  out  the  city  of  Philadelphia 
between  the  two  streams  de  la  Ware  [Delaware]  and  Scolkis 
[Schuylkill]  and  gave  it  this  name,  as  if  its  inhabitants  should 
lead  their  lives  there  in  pure  and  simple  brotherly  love.  .  .  . 

My  company  consisted  of  many  sorts  of  people.  There  was 
a  doctor  of  medicine,  with  his  wife  and  eight  children,  a  French 
captain,  a  Low  Dutch  cake-baker,  an  apothecary,  a  glass-blower, 
a  mason,  a  smith,  a  wheelwright,  a  cabinet-maker,  a  cooper,  a  hat- 
maker,  a  cobbler,  a  tailor,  a  gardener,  farmers,  seamstresses,  etc., 

1  On  landing  from  the  ship  Welcome  at  New  Castle,  Penn  received  the 
symbols  of  his  feudal  lordship  of  the  province  —  turf,  twig,  and  water, 
signifying  dominion  over  the  soil,  the  products,  and  the  ways  of  travel 
in  the  land. 


The  English  Colonies  7 J 

in  all  about  eighty  persons  besides  the  crew.  They  were  not  only 
different  in  respect  to  age  .  .  .  and  in  respect  to  their  occupations, 
but  were  also  of  such  different  religions  and  behaviors  that  I  might 
not  unfittingly  compare  the  ship  that  bore  them  hither  with  Noah's 
Ark,  but  that  there  were  more  unclean  than  clean  [rational]  ani 
mals  to  be  found  therein.  In  my  household  I  have  those  who 
hold  to  the  Roman,  to  the  Lutheran,  to  the  Calvinistic,  to  the 
Anabaptist,  to  the  Anglican  church,  and  only  one  Quaker.  .  .  . 
On  the  2oth  of  August  we  arrived  at  evening,  praise  God, 
safely  at  Philadelphia,  where  I  on  the  following  day  delivered 
to  William  Penn  the  letters  that  I  had,  and  was  received  by  him 
with  amiable  friendliness.  Of  that  very  worthy  man  and  famous 
ruler  I  might  properly  write  many  things ;  but  my  pen  (though 
it  is  from  an  eagle,  which  a  so-called  savage  lately  brought  to 
my  house)  is  much  too  weak  to  express  the  high  virtues  of  this 
Christian  —  for  such  he  is  indeed.  He  often  invites  me  to  his 
table,  and  has  me  walk  and  ride  in  his  always  edifying  company. 
...  He  heartily  loves  the  Germans,  and  once  said  openly  in 
my  presence  to  his  councillors  and  those  who  were  about  him, 

I  love  the  Germans  and  desire  that  you  also  should  love  them 

On  October  24,  1685  [1683]  I,  Francis  Daniel  Pastorius,  with 
the  good  will  of  the  governor,  laid  out  another  new  city,  of  the 
name  of  Germanton,  or  Germanopolis,  at  a  distance  of  two  hours' 
walk  from  Philadelphia,  where  there  are  a  good  black  fertile  soil 
and  many  fresh  wholesome  springs  of  water,  many  oak,  walnut, 
and  chestnut  trees,  and  also  good  pastorage  for  cattle.  The  first 
settlement  consisted  of  only  twelve  families  of  forty-one  persons, 
the  greater  part  High  German  mechanics  and  weavers,  because 
I  had  ascertained  that  linen  cloth  would  be  indispensable. 

I  made  the  main  street  of  this  city  sixty  feet  wide,  and  the  side 
streets  forty :  the  space  or  ground-plot  for  each  house  and  garden 
was  as  much  as  three  acres  of  land,  but  for  my  own  dwelling  twice 
as  much.  Before  this  I  had  also  built  a  little  house  in  Philadel 
phia,  thirty  feet  long  and  fifteen  wide.  Because  of  the  scarcity  of 
glass  the  windows  were  of  oiled  paper.  Over  the  house-door  I 
had  written : 

Parva  Domus,  sed  arnica  Bonis,  procul  este  profani 

[A  small  house  but  friendly  to  the  good  :  depart  ye  profane] 


7 2  The  Establishment  of  tJie  English 

Whereat  our  Governor,  when  he  visited  me,  burst  into  laughter, 
and  encouraged  me  to  keep  on  building. 

I  have  also  acquired  for  my  High-German  Company  fifteen 
thousand  acres  of  land  in  one  piece,  on  condition  that,  within 
a  year,  they  shall  actually  place  thirty  households  thereon.  .  .  . 

It  would  therefore  be  a  very  good  thing  if  the  European 
associates  should  at  once  send  more  persons  over  here  for  the 
common  advantage  of  the  Company :  for  only  the  day  before 
yesterday  the  governor  said  to  me  that  the  zeal  of  his  High- 
Germans  in  building  pleased  him  very  much,  and  that  he  preferred 
them  to  the  English,  and  would  grant  them  special  privileges. 

THE  COLONIES  IN  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 

22.  The  "  The  design  in  the  settlement  of  colonies,"  remarked 

gation  Act'     tne  French  political  philosopher,  Montesquieu,  "  was  the 

1660  extension  of  commerce  and  not  the  foundation  of  a  new 

[591        empire."  The  British  Navigation  Acts  furnish  ample  proof 

of  the  truth  of  this  statement.    Rivalry  with  the  Dutch  for 

the  colonial  carrying  trade  of  the  world  led  the  English 

Parliament,  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century, 

to  begin  a  series  of  enactments  for  the  strict  regulation 

and  control  of  English  commerce,  with  the  purpose  of 

securing  all  the  colonial  trade  for  the  mother   country. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  these  acts  was  passed  in 

the  year  of  the  Restoration  of  the  Stuarts  (1660),  and  is 

known  as  the  First  Navigation  Act. 

AN  ACT  FOR  THE  ENCOURAGEING  AND  INCREASING 
OF  SHIPPING  AND  NAVIGATION 

[I]  For  the  increase  of  Shiping  and  incouragement  of  the 
Navigation  of  this  Nation,  wherin  under  the  good  providence 
and  protection  of  God  the  Wealth  Safety  and  Strength  of  this 
Kingdome  is  soe  much  concerned  Bee  it  Enacted  by  the 
Kings  most  Excellent  Majesty  and  by  the  Lords  and  Commons 


The  English  Colonies  73 

in  this  present  Parliament  assembled  and  the  Authorise  therof. 
That  from  and  after  the  first  day  of  December  One  thousand 
six  hundred  and  Sixty  and  from  thence  forward  noe  Goods  or 
Commodities  whatsoever  shall  be  Imported  into  or  Exported 
out  of  any  Lands  Islelands  Plantations  or  Territories  to  his 
Majesty  belonging  or  in  his  possession  or  which  may  hereafter 
belong  unto  or  be  in  the  possession  of  his  Majesty  His  Heires 
and  Successors  in  Asia  Africa  or  America  in  any  other  Ship  or 
Ships  Vessell  or  Vessells  whatsoever  but  in  such  Ships  or  Ves- 
sells  as  doe  truly  and  without  fraud  belong  onely  to  the  people 
of  England  or  Ireland  Dominion  of  Wales  or  Towne  of  Ber- 
wicke  upon  Tweede,  or  are  of  the  built  of,  and  belonging  to  any 
of  the  said  Lands  Islands  Plantations  or  Territories  as  the  Pro 
prietors  and  right  owners  therof  and  wherof  the  Master  and 
three  fourths  of  the  Marriners  at  least  are  English  under  the 
penalty  of  the  Forfeiture  and  Losse  of  all  the  Goods  and  Com- 
modityes  ...  as  of  alsoe  the  Ship  or  Vessell  with  all  its  Guns 
Furniture  Tackle  Ammunition  and  Apparell.  .  .  . 

[IV]  And  it  is  further  Enacted  .  .  .  that  noe  Goods  or  Com- 
modityes  that  are  of  forraigne  growth  production  or  manufac 
ture  and  which  are  brought  into  England  Ireland  Wales  ...  in 
English  built  Shipping  .  .  .  and  navigated  by  English  Mariners 
as  abovesaid  shall  be  shipped  or  brought  from  any  other  place 
or  Places,  Country  or  Countries  but  onely  from  those  of  their 
said  Growth  Production  or  Manufacture,  or  from  those  ports 
where  the  said  Goods  and  Commodityes  can  onely  or  are  or 
usually  have  beene  first  shiped  for  transportation.  .  .  .  Under 
the  penalty  of  the  forfeiture  of  all  such  of  the  aforesaid  Goods 
as  shall  be  Imported  from  any  other  place  or  Country  ...  as 
alsoe  of  the  Ship  in  which  they  were  imported  with  all  her  Guns 
Furniture  Ammunition  Tackle  and  Apparel.  .  .  . 

[VIII]  And  it  is  further  Enacted  .  .  .  That  noe  Goods  or 
Commodityes  of  the  Growth  Production  or  Manufacture  of 
Muscovy  or  of  any  of  the  Countryes  Dominions  or  Territories 
to  the  Great  Duke  or  Emperor  of  Muscovia  or  Russia  belong 
ing,  As  alsoe  that  noe  sorts  of  Masts  Timber  or  boards  noe 
forraigne  Salt  Pitch  Tar  Rozin  Hempe  or  Flax  Raizins  Figs 
Prunes  Olive  Oyles  noe  Corne  or  Graine  Sugar  Pot-ashes  Wines 


74  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

Vinegar  or  Spirits  called  Aqua-vite  or  Brandy  Wine  shall  from 
and  after  [April  i,  1661]  .  .  .  be  imported  into  England  ...  in 
any  Ship  or  Ships  Vessel  or  Vessells  whatsoever  but  in  such  as 
doe  truly  and  without  fraude  belong  to  the  people  therof  ...  as 
the  true  Owners  and  proprietors  therof,  and  wherof  the  Master 
and  Three  Fourths  of  the  Mariners  at  least  are  English.  .  .  . 

[XVIII]  And  it  is  further  Enacted  .  .  .   That  from  and  after 
[April  i,  1661]  .  .  .  noe  Sugars  Tobaccho  Cotton  Wool  Indicoes 
Ginger  Fustick  or  other  dyeing  wood  of  the  Growth  Production 
or  Manufacture  of  any  English  Plantations  in  America  Asia  or 
Africa  shall  be  shiped  carried  conveyed  or  transported  from  any 
of  the  said  English  Plantations  to  any  Land  Island  Territory 
Dominion  Port  or  place  whatsoever  other  than  to  such  English 
Plantations  as  doe  belong  to  His  Majesty  ...  or  to  the  King- 
dome  of  England  or  Ireland  or  Principality  of  Wales  or  Towne 
of  Berwick  upon  Tweede  there  to  be  laid  on  shore  under  the 
penalty  of  the  Forfeiture  of  the  said  Goods  or  the  full  value 
thereof,  as  alsoe  of  the  Ship  with  all  her  Guns  Tackle  Apparel 
Ammunition  and  Furniture.  .  .  . 

[XIX]  And  be  it  further  Enacted .  .  .    That  for  every  Ship 
or  Vessell  which  from  and  after  [December  25,  1660]  .  .  .  shall 
set  saile  out  of  England  ...  for  any  English  Plantation  in 
America  Asia  Africa  sufficient  bond  shall  be  given  ...  to  the 
chiefe  officers  of  the  Custome  house  of  such  Port  or  place  from 
whence  the  said  ship  set  saile  to  the  value  of  one  thousand 
pounds  if  the  Ship  shall  be  of  lesse  burthen  then  one  hundred 
Tuns,  and  of  the  summe  of  two  thousand  pounds  if  the  Ship 
shal  be  of  greater  burthen.    That  in  case  the  said  Ship  or  Ves 
sell  shall  loade  any  of  the  said  Commodityes  at  any  of  the  said 
English  Plantations,  that  the  same  Commodityes  shall  be  by 
the  said  Ship  brought  to  some  port  of  England  .  .  .  and  shall 
there  unload  and  put  on  shore  the  same,  the  danger  of  the'  Seas 
onely  excepted.  .  .  . 

23.  Observa-/     Peter  Kalm,   Professor  in  the  University  of  Abo,  in 

ffre^v^-/  Swedish   Finland,  and  the   Reverend  Andrew  Burnaby, 

tors,  1748-  /  Archdeacon  of  Leicester,  England,  made  tours  through 

60          the  "  middle  settlements  "  in  North  America  in  the  years 


The  English  Colonies  75 

1748-1749  and  1759-1760  respectively.  /  The  Swedish 
professor  was  particularly  interested  in  the  natural  history 
of  America,  but  turned  aside  often  to  make  "  several  curi 
ous  and  important  remarks  on  various  subjects."  Reaching 
New  York,  he  writes  : 

The  king  appoints  the  governor  according  to  his  royal  pleas 
ure,  but  the  inhabitants  of  the  province  make  up  his  excellency's 
salary.  Therefore  a  man  entrusted  with  this  place  has  greater 
or  lesser  revenues,  according  as  he  knows  how  to  gain  the  con 
fidence  of  the  inhabitants.  There  are  examples  of  governors  in 
this,  and  other  provinces  of  North  America,  who  by  their  dis 
sensions  with  the  inhabitants  of  their  respective  governments, 
have  lost  their  whole  salary,  his  Majesty  having  no  power  to 
make  them  pay  it.  ... 

Each  English  Colony  in  North  America  is  independent  of  the 
other,  and  each  has  its  proper  [own]  laws  and  coin,  and  may  be 
looked  upon  in  several  lights  as  a  state  by  itself.  From  hence 
it  happens,  that  in  time  of  war,  things  go  on  very  slowly  and 
irregularly  here  :  for  not  only  the  sense  of  one  province  is  some 
times  directly  opposite  to  that  of  another;  but  frequently  the 
views  of  the  governor  and  those  of  the  assembly  of  the  same 
province  are  quite  different :  so  that  it  is  easy  to  see  that,  while 
the  people  are  quarrelling  about  the  best  and  cheapest  manner 
of  carrying  on  the  war,  an  enemy  has  it  in  his  power  to  take 
one  place  after  another.  It  has  commonly  happened  that  whilst 
some  provinces  have  been  suffering  from  their  enemies,  the 
neighboring  ones  were  quiet  and  inactive,  and  as  if  it  did  not 
in  the  least  concern  them.  They  have  frequently  taken  up  two 
or  three  years  in  considering  whether  they  should  give  assistance 
to  an  oppressed  sister  colony,  and  sometimes  they  have  ex 
pressly  declared  themselves  against  it.  There  are  instances  of 
provinces  who  were  not  only  neuter  [neutral]  in  these  circum 
stances,  but  who  even  carried  on  a  great  trade  with  the  power 
which  at  that  very  time  was  attacking  and  laying  waste  some 
other  provinces. 

The  French  in  Canada,  who  are  but  an  inconsiderable  body, 
in  comparison  with  the  English  in  America,  have  by  this  position 


76  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

of  affairs  been  able  to  obtain  great  Advantages  in  times  of  war ; 
for  if  we  judge  from  the  number  and  power  of  the  English,  it 
would  seem  very  easy  for  them  to  get  the  better  of  the  French 
in  America.  It  is  however  of  great  advantage  to  the  crown  of 
England,  that  the  North  American  colonies  are  near  a  country, 
under  the  government  of  the  French,  like  Canada.  There  is 
reason  to  believe  that  the  king  was  never  earnest  in  his  attempts 
to  expel  the  French  from  their  possessions  there ;  though  it 
might  have  been  done  with  little  difficulty.  For  the  English 
colonies  in  this  part  of  the  world  have  encreased  so  much  in 
their  number  of  inhabitants,  and  in  their  riches,  that  they  almost 
vie  with  Old  England.  Now  in  order  to  keep  up  the  authority 
and  trade  of  their  mother  country,  and  to  answer  several  other 
purposes,  they  are  forbid  to  establish  new  manufactures  which 
would  turn  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  British  commerce :  they 
are  not  allowed  to  dig  for  any  gold  or  silver,  unless  they  send 
them  to  England  immediately :  they  have  not  the  liberty  of  trad 
ing  to  any  parts  that  do  not  belong  to  the  British  dominions,  ex 
cepting  some  settled  places,  and  foreign  traders  are  not  allowed 
to  send  their  ships  to  them.  These  and  some  other  restrictions 
occasion  the  inhabitants  of  the  English  colonies  to  grow  less 
tender  for  their  mother  country.  This  coldness  is  kept  up  by  the 
many  foreigners  such  as  Germans,  Dutch,  and  French  settled 
here,  and  living  among  the  English,  who  commonly  have  no 
particular  attachment  to  Old  England.  .  .  . 

I  have  been  told  by  Englishmen,  and  not  only  by  such  as 
were  born  in  America,  but  even  by  such  as  came  from  Europe, 
that  the  English  colonies  in  North  America,  in  the  space  of 
thirty  or  fifty  years,  would  be  able  to  form  a  state  by  themselves,1 
entirely  independent  on  Old  England.  But  as  the  whole  country 
which  lies  along  the  sea-shore  is  unguarded,  and  on  the  land  side 
is  harrassed  by  the  French,  in  times  of  war  these  dangerous 
neighbors  are  sufficient  to  prevent  the  connection  of  the  colo 
nies  with  their  mother  country  from  being  quite  broken  off. 
The  English  government  has  therefore  sufficient  reason  to 

1  It  was  actually  less  than  thirty  years  from  the  date  of  Kalm's  writing 
(1748)  that  the  colonies,  by  throwing  off  the  allegiance  to  England, 
formed  "  a  state  by  themselves." 


r 


The  English  Colonies  77 

consider  the  French  in  North  America  as  the  best  means  of 
keeping  the  colonies  in  their  due  submission. 

The  Reverend  Archdeacon,  after  rather  caustic  criti 
cisms  of  the  manners  and  institutions  of  the  colonists,  in 
his  journey  from  Virginia  to  Massachusetts  Bay,  ends  his 
story  with  the  following  pessimistic  estimate  of  the  colonies 
as  a  whole  : 

America  is  formed  for  happiness  but  not  for  empire :  in  a 
course  of  1200  miles  I  did  not  see  a  single  object  that  solicited 
charity,  but  I  saw  insuperable  causes  of  weakness,  which  will 
necessarily  prevent  its  being  a  potent  state. 

Our  colonies  may  be  distinguished  into  the  southern  and 
northern,  separated  from  each  other  by  the  Susquehannah  and 
that  imaginary  line  which  divides  Maryland  from  Pensylvania. 

The  southern  colonies  have  so  many  inherent  causes  of 
weakness  that  they  can  never  possess  any  real  strength.  The 
climate  operates  very  powerfully  upon  them,  and  renders  them 
indolent,  inactive,  and  unenterprising ;  this  is  visible  in  every 
line  of  their  character.  I  myself  have  been  a  spectator,  and  it 
is  not  an  uncommon  sight  of  a  man  in  the  vigour  of  life,  lying 
upon  a  couch,  and  a  female  slave  standing  over  him,  wafting 
off  the  flies,  and  fanning  him,  while  he  took  his  repose. 

The  southern  colonies  (Maryland,  which  is  the  smallest  and 
most  inconsiderable,  alone  excepted)  will  never  be  thickly  seated 
[populated] ;  for  as  they  are  not  confined  within  determinate 
limits,  but  extend  to  the  westward  indefinitely ;  men  sooner 
than  apply  themselves  to  laborious  occupations,  occupations 
militating  with  their  dispositions,  and  generally  considered  too 
as  the  inheritance  and  badge  of  slavery,  will  gradually  retire 
westward,  and  settle  upon  fresh  lands,  which  are  said  also  to 
be  more  fertile  ;  where  by  the  servitude  of  a  negro  or  two,  they 
may  enjoy  all  the  satisfaction  of  an  easy  and  indolent  independ 
ency  ;  hence  the  lands  upon  the  coast  will  of  course  remain  thin 
of  inhabitants. 

The  mode  of  cultivation  by  slavery  is  another  insurmountable 
cause  of  weakness.  The  number  of  negroes  in  the  southern 


7$  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

colonies  is  upon  the  whole  nearly  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  that 
of  the  white  men  :  and  they  propagate  and  increase  even  faster. 
Their  condition  is  truly  pitiable ;  their  labour  excessively  hard, 
their  diet  poor  and  scanty,  their  treatment  cruel  and  oppressive ; 
they  cannot  therefore  but  be  a  subject  of  terror  to  those  who 
so  inhumanly  tyrannize  over  them. 

The  Indians  near  the  frontiers  are  a  still  further  formidable 
cause  of  subjection.  The  southern  Indians  are  numerous,  and 
are  governed  by  a  sounder  policy  than  formerly :  experience 
has  taught  them  wisdom.  They  never  make  war  with  the  colo 
nists  without  carrying  terror  and  devastation  along  with  them. 
They  sometimes  break  up  intire  counties  together.  Such  is  the 
state  of  the  southern  colonies. 

The  northern  colonies  are  of  stronger  stamina,  but  they  have 
other  difficulties  and  disadvantages  to  struggle  with,  not  less 
arduous,  or  more  easy  to  be  surmounted  than  what  have  been 
already  mentioned.  Their  limits  being  defined,  they  will  un 
doubtedly  become  exceedingly  populous :  ...  but  the  northern 
colonies  have  still  more  positive  and  real  disadvantages  to  con 
tend  with.  They  are  composed  of  people  of  different  nations, 
different  manners,  different  religions,  and  different  languages. 
They  have  a  mutual  jealousy  of  each  other,  fomented  by  con 
siderations  of  interest,  power,  and  ascendency.  Religious  zeal 
too,  like  a  smothered  fire,  is  secretly  burning  in  the  hearts  of  the 
different  sectaries  that  inhabit  them,  and  were  it  not  restrained 
by  laws  and  superior  authority,  would  soon  burst  out  into  a  flame 
of  universal  persecution.  Even  the  peaceable  Quakers  struggle 
hard  for  preeminence,  and  evince  in  a  very  striking  manner 
that  the  passions  of  mankind  are  much  stronger  than  any  prin 
ciples  of  religion. 

The  colonies  therefore  separately  considered,  are  internally 
weak :  but  it  may  be  supposed  that  by  an  union  or  coalition 
they  would  become  strong  and  formidable  :  but  an  union  seems 
almost  impossible  :  one  founded  in  dominion  or  power  is  morally 
so :  for,  were  not  England  to  interfere,  the  colonies  themselves 
so  well  understand  the  policy  of  preserving  a  balance  that  I  think 
they  would  not  be  idle  spectators,  were  any  one  of  them  to  en 
deavor  to  subjugate  its  next  neighbour.  Indeed,  it  appears  to  me 


The  English  Colonies  79 

a  very  doubtful  point,  even  supposing  all  the  colonies  in  America 
to  be  united  under  one  head,  whether  it  would  be  possible  to 
keep  in  due  order  and  government  so  wide  and  extended  an 
empire ;  the  difficulties  of  communication,  of  intercourse,  of 
correspondence,  and  all  other  circumstances  considered. 

A  voluntary  association  or  coalition,  at  least  a  permanent  one, 
is  almost  as  difficult  to  be  supposed ;  for  fire  and  water  are  not 
more  heterogeneous  than  the  different  colonies  in  North  America. 
Nothing  can  exceed  the  jealousy  and  emulation  which  they  pos 
sess  in  regard  to  each  other.  The  inhabitants  of  Pennsylvania 
and  New  York  have  an  inexhaustible  source  of  animosity  in 
their  jealousy  for  the  trade  of  the  Jerseys.  Massachusetts  Bay 
and  Rhode  Island  are  not  less  interested  in  that  of  Connecticut. 
The  West  Indies  are  a  common  subject  of  emulation  to  them 
all.  Even  the  limits  and  boundaries  of  each  colony  are  a  con 
stant  source  of  litigation.  In  short,  such  is  the  difference  of 
character,  of  manners,  of  religion,  of  interest  of  the  different 
colonies,  that  I  think,  if  I  am  not  wholly  ignorant  of  the  human 
mind,  were  they  left  to  themselves,  there  would  soon  be  a  civil 
war  from  one  end  of  the  continent  to  the  other;  while  the  Indians 
and  negroes  would,  with  better  reason,  impatiently  watch  the 
opportunity  of  exterminating  them  all  together. 

After  all,  however,  supposing  what  I  firmly  believe  will  never 
take  place,  a  permanent  union  or  alliance  of  all  the  colonies,  yet 
it  could  not  be  effectual  ...  for  such  is  the  extent  of  the  coast 
settled  by  the  American  colonies,  that  it  can  never  be  defended 
but  by  a  maritime  power.  America  must  first  be  mistress  of 
the  sea,  before  she  can  be  independent  or  mistress  of  herself. 
Suppose  the  colonies  ever  so  populous ;  suppose  them  capable 
of  maintaining  100,000  men  constantly  in  arms  (a  supposition 
in  the  highest  degree  extravagant),  yet  a  half  a  dozen  frigates 
would  with  ease  ravage  and  lay  waste  the  whole  country  from 
end  to  end,  without  a  possibility  of  their  being  able  to  prevent 
it :  the  country  is  so  intersected  by  rivers,  rivers  of  such  mag 
nitude  as  to  render  it  impossible  to  build  bridges  over  them, 
that  all  communication  is  in  a  manner  cut  off.  An  army  under 
such  circumstances  could  never  act  to  any  purpose  or  effect :  its 
operations  would  be  totally  frustrated. 


8o  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

Further,  a  great  part  of  the  opulence  and  power  of  America 
depends  upon  her  fisheries,  and  her  commerce  with  the  West 
Indies :  she  cannot  subsist  without  them ;  but  these  would  be 
intirely  at  the  mercy  of  that  power,  which  might  have  the  sov 
ereignty  of  the  seas.  I  conclude  therefore  that  England,  so  long 
as  she  maintains  her  superiority  in  that  respect,  will  also  possess 
a  superiority  in  America:  but  the  moment  she  loses  the  em 
pire  of  the  one,  she  will  be  deprived  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
other :  for  were  that  empire  to  be  held  by  France,  Holland,  or 
any  other  power,  America  will,  in  all  probability  be  annexed  to  it. 


24.  Harvard        An  anonymous  writer,  one  of  the  members  of  the  first 
the  early1       Massachusetts  settlement,  gives  the  following  quaint  ac- 

days,  1642,     count  of  Harvard  College  in  1642,  only  six  years  after  its 
1680,  1741 

.gl.         foundation.    The  description  formed  one  half  of  a  tract 

called  "New  England's  First  Fruits,"  published  in  London 
in  1643. 

After  God  had  carried  us  safe  to  New-England,  and  wee 
had  builded  our  houses,  provided  necessaries  for  our  liveli-hood, 
rear'd  convenient  places  for  God's  worship,  and  settled  the  civill 
government :  One  of  the  next  things  we  longed  for,  and  looked 
after  was  to  advance  Learning  and  perpetuate  it  to  Posterity ; 
dreading  to  leave  an  illiterate  Ministry  to  the  Churches,  when 
our  present  Ministers  shall  lie  in  the  Dust.  And  as  wee  were 
thinking  and  consulting  how  to  effect  this  great  work  ;  it  pleased 
God  to  stir  up  the  heart  of  one  Mr.  Harvard  (a  godly  Gentle 
man  and  a  lover  of  Learning,  there  living  amongst  us)  to  give 
the  one  halfe  of  his  Estate  (it  being  in  all  about  1700  1.)  towards 
the  erecting  of  a  Colledge,  and  all  his  Library :  after  him  an 
other  gave  300  1.  Others  after  them  cast  in  more,  and  the  pub- 
lique  hand  of  the  State  added  the  rest :  the  Colledge  was,  by 
common  consent,  appointed  to  be  at  Cambridge  (a  place  very 
pleasant  and  accommodate)  and  is  called  (according  to  the  name 
of  the  first  founder)  Harvard  Colledge. 

The  Edifice  is  very  faire  and  comely  within  and  without, 
having  in  it  a  spacious  Hall ;  (where  they  daily  meet  at  Common 
Lectures)  Exercises  [Commons,  Lectures,  and  Exercises],  and 


The  English  Colonies  8 1 

a  large  Library  with  some  Bookes  to  it,  the  gifts  of  divers 
of  our  friends,  their  Chambers  and  studies  also,  fitted  for  and 
possessed  by  the  Students,  and  all  other  roomes  of  Office  neces 
sary  and  convenient,  with  all  needfull  Offices  thereto  belonging : 
And  by  the  side  of  the  Colledge  a  faire  Grammar  Schoole,  for 
the  training  up  of  young  Schollars,  and  fitting  of  them  for  Aca 
demical  I  Learning,  that  still  as  they  are  judged  ripe,  they  may 
be  received  into  the  Colledge  of  this  Schoole.  .  .  . 

Over  the  Colledge  is  master  Dunster  placed,  as  President 
[1640-1654],  a  learned,  conscionable  [conscientious]  and  indus 
trious  man,  who  hath  so  trained  up  his  Pupills  in  the  tongues 
and  Arts,  and  so  seasoned  them  with  the  principles  of  Divinity 
and  Christianity,  that  we  have  to  our  great  comforts  (and  in  truth) 
beyond  our  hopes,  beheld  their  progresse  in  Learning  and  godli- 
nesse  also.  .  .  .  The  latter  hath  been  manifested  in  sundry  of 
them,  by  the  savoury  breathings  of  their  spirits  in  their  godly 
conversation.  Insomuch  that  we  are  confident,  if  these  early 
blossomes  may  be  cherished  and  warmed  with  the  influence  of 
the  friends  of  Learning,  and  lovers  of  this  pious  worke,  they  will 
by  the  help  of  God,  come  to  happy  maturity  in  a  short  time. 

Over  the  Colledge  are  twelve  Overseers  chosen  by  the  Generall 
Court,  six  of  them  are  of  the  Magistrates,  the  other  six  of  the 
Ministers.  .  .  . 

Rules  and  Precepts  that  are  observed  in  the  Colledge 

1.  When  any  Schollar  is  able  to  understand  Tully  [Cicero], 
or  such  like  classicall  Latine  Auther  extempore,  and  make  and 
speak  true  Latine  in  Verse  and  Prose,  suo  ut  aiunt  Marfe  [with 
out  help  from  others] ;  and  decline  perfectly  the  Paradigmes  of 
Nounes  and  Verbes  in  the  Greek  tongue :  Let  him  then  and  not 
before  be  capable  of  admission  into  the  Colledge. 

2.  Let  every  Student  be  plainly  instructed,  and   earnestly 
pressed  to  consider  well,  the  maine  end  of  his  life  and  studies  is, 
to  know  God  and  Jesus  Christ  which  is  eternal  life,  Job.  17.  3. 
and  therefore  to  lay  Christ  in  the  bottome,  as  the  only  foundation 
of  all  sound  knowledge  and  Learning. 

5.  That  they  studiously  redeeme  the  time;  observe  the  gen- 
erall  houres  appointed  for  all  the  Students,  and  the  speciall  houres 
for  their  owne  Classis :  and  then  diligently  attend  the  Lectures, 


82  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

without  any  disturbance  by  word  or  gesture.  And  if  in  anything 
they  doubt,  they  shall  enquire,  as  of  their  fellowes,  so,  (in  case 
of  Non  satisfaction]  modestly  of  their  Tutors. 

6.  None  shall  under  any  pretence  whatsoever,  frequent  the 
company  and  society  of  such  men  as  lead  an  unfit,  and  dissolute 
life.  Nor  shall  any  without  his  Tutors  leave,  or  (in  his  absence) 
the  call  of  Parents  or  Guardians,  goe  abroad  to  other  Townes. 

8.  If  any  Schollar  shall  be  found  to  transgresse  any  of  the 
Lawes  of  God,  or  the  Schoole,  after  twice  Admonition,  he  shall 
be  lyable,  if  not  adultus,  to  correction,  if  adultus,  his  name 
shall  be  given  up  to  the  Overseers  of  the  Colledge,  that  he  may 
bee  admonished  at  the  publick  monthly  Act. 

The  College  seems  to  have  declined  somewhat  in  its  first 
half  century  from  the  lofty  ideals  of  its  founders,  if  we  may 
accept  as  an  authentic  picture  of  college  life  the  short 
description  found  in  the  journal  of  Jasper  Danckaerts,  a 
Dutch  visitor  to  Cambridge,  in  the  year  1680. 

9th  [of  July  1680]  Tuesday.  We  started  out  to  go  to  Cam 
bridge,  lying  to  the  north  east  of  Boston,  in  order  to  see  their 
college  and  printing  office.  We  left  about  six  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  and  were  set  across  the  river  at  Charlestown.  .  .  .  We 
reached  Cambridge  about  eight  o'clock.  It  is  not  a  large  village, 
and  the  houses  stand  very  much  apart.  The  college  building  is 
the  most  conspicuous  among  them.1  We  went  to  it,  expecting 
to  see  something  curious,  as  it  is  the  only  Colledge,  or  would-be 
academy  of  the  Protestants  in  all  America,  but  we  found  our 
selves  mistaken.  In  approaching  the  house  we  neither  heard  nor 

1  This  was  New  College,  finished  in  1682  after  much  delay  owing  to 
the  "Indian  warre  "  (of  King  Philip).  The  original  Harvard  Hall,  the 
"  Edifice  very  faire  and  comely  within  and  without,"  had  begun  to  show 
signs  of  dilapidation  very  early.  In  1647  President  Dunster  wrote  to 
the  Commissioners  of  New  England :  "  from  the  first  evil  contrivall  of 
the  Colledge  building  there  now  ensues  yearly  decayes  of  the  rooff,  walls 
and  foundations,  which  the  study  rents  [tuition  fees]  will  not  carry  forth 
to  repair."  The  New  College  contained  accommodations  for  forty 
students.  It  was  burned  to  the  ground  in  1764. 


The  English  Colonies  83 

saw  anything  mentionable ;  but  going  to  the  other  side  of  the 
building,  we  heard  noise  enough  in  an  upper  room,  to  lead  my 
comrade  to  suppose  they  were  engaged  in  disputation.  We 
entered  and  went  up  stairs,  when  a  person  met  us  and  requested 
us  to  walk  in,  which  we  did.  We  found  there,  eight  or  ten  young 
fellows,  sitting  around,  smoking  tobacco,  with  the  smoke  of  which 
the  room  was  so  full,  that  you  could  hardly  see :  and  the  whole 
house  smelt  so  strong  of  it,  that  when  I  was  going  up  stairs,  I 
said,  this  is  certainly  a  tavern.  We  excused  ourselves,  that  we 
could  speak  English  only  a  little,  but  understood  Dutch  or  French, 
which  they  did  not.  However,  we  spoke  as  well  as  we  could. 
We  inquired  how  many  professors  there  were,  and  they  replied 
not  one,  that  there  was  no  money  to  support  one.  We  asked 
how  many  students  there  were.  They  said  at  first,  thirty,  then 
came  down  to  twenty ;  I  afterwards  understood  there  are  prob 
ably  not  ten.  They  could  hardly  speak  a  word  of  Latin,  so  that 
my  comrade  could  not  converse  with  them.  They  took  us  to 
the  library  where  there  was  nothing  particular.  We  looked  over 
it  a  little.  They  presented  us  with  a  glass  of  wine.  This  is  all 
we  ascertained  there.  The  minister  of  the  place  goes  there 
morning  and  evening  to  make  prayer,  and  has  charge  over  them. 
The  students  have  tutors  or  masters. 

Josiah  Quincy  in  his  "  History  of  Harvard  University" 
transcribes  from  the  records  of  the  Corporation  the  follow 
ing  account  of  the  reception  of  the  newly  elected  Governor 
Shirley  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  "  The  inti 
mate  union  which  subsisted  between  Harvard  College  and 
the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  powers  of  the  Province,"  says 
Quincy,  "unavoidably  connected  the  interests  of  the 
seminary  with  political  events." 

The  Governor  came  up  to  Cambridge  with  an  escort  of  forty 
men,  including  officers,  accompanied  by  the  Council,  a  great 
many  other  gentlemen,  and  a  considerable  number  who  came 
over  the  ferry,  by  way  of  Charlestown.  He  was  met  a  mile  off, 
by  the  gentlemen  of  Cambridge,  the  Tutors,  the  Professors^ 


84  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

Masters,  and  two  of  the  Bachelors.1  Both  the  Meetinghouse 
bell  and  the  College  bell  were  rung.  He  was  received  at  the 
door  of  the  College,  exactly  at  eleven  o'clock,  by  the  President 
and  Corporation,  and  escorted  to  the  Library,  where,  having 
waited  twenty  minutes,  the  bell  was  tolled,  and  all  moved  down 
to  the  Hall :  the  Corporation  first,  the  Governor  and  Lieutenant- 
Governor  next,  and  then  the  other  gentlemen.  When  all  were 
seated,  the  President  ordered  the  orator  (Mr.  Winslow,  a  junior 
Bachelor)  to  begin :  and,  when  he  had  finished,  the  Governor 
rose  (all  rising  with  him)  .and  made  a  very  fine  Latin  speech, 
promising  the  College  all  his  care  for  the  promoting  of  learning 
and  religion.  All  proceeded  afterwards  to  the  Library  again, 
where  the  President  asked  the  Governor  if  he  would  like  to  see 
a  philosophical  experiment  in  the  Professor's  chamber  ;  on  which 
all  moved  there  directly,  and  saw  three  or  four  experiments, 
which  took  up  almost  all  the  time  till  dinner ;  the  Governor  going 
to  Mr.  Flynt's  chamber  again  until  it  was  ready.  The  tables 
were  laid  two  at  each  end  of  the  hall,  and  one  across  by  the 
chimneys.  The  Governor,  Council,  and  Corporation  sat  at  the 
cross  table  ;  the  Governor  facing  the  door,  the  rest  in  their  order. 
.  .  .  The  whole  number  present  amounted  to  one  hundred  and 
twenty  1  The  Governor  sat  about  an  hour,  and  then,  after  the 
loist  Psalm  was  sung,  he,  with  the  rest  of  the  gentlemen,  went 
off,  about  five  o'clock  with  his  guard. 

1  Lest  this  should  give  the  impression  of  a  large  college  faculty  it 
might  be  well  to  quote  the  remark  of  the  celebrated  evangelist  George 
Whitefield,  who  visited  Harvard  in  1740:  "The  chief  College  in  New 
England  has  one  President,  four  Tutors,  and  about  a  hundred  students. 
It  is  scarce  as  big  as  one  of  our  least  Colleges  in  Oxford  and  .  .  .  not 
far  superior  to  our  Universities  in  piety  and  true  godliness.  Tutors 
neglect  to  pray  with  and  examine  the  hearts  of  their  pupils.  Discipline 
is  at  too  low  an  ebb.  Bad  books  are  become  fashionable  amongst  them." 
—  Whitefield,  Seventh  Journal,  p.  28, 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  STRUGGLE  WITH  FRANCE  FOR  NORTH  AMERICA 

THE  RISE  OF  NEW  FRANCE 

In  the  stirring  annals  of  French  exploration  in  the  new  25.  La 
world,  Rene  Robert  Cavelier  de  la  Salle's  journey  of  a 

thousand  miles  from  Lake  Michigan  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  the  Missis 
sippi,  Jan- 
opening  the  main  current  of  the  great  river  system  that  uary  to 

drains  our  midland  states,  holds  the  first  place.  Among  La  Apnl>  I(i 
Salle's  companions  was  the  Recollect  (Franciscan)  Friar, 
Father  Zenobius  Membre,  who  reported  the  success  of  La 
Salle's  expedition  in  a  letter  directed  to  his  cousin  and 
superior,  Father  Chretien  Le  Clercq  of  Gaspe,  and  dated 
"From  the  Mississippi,  June  3,  1682."  Nine  years  later  Le 
Clercq  published  at  Paris  an  ambitious  work  entitled  ' '  The 
First  Establishment  of  the  Faith  in  New  France,"  in  which 
he  included  Father  Zenobius'  report  of  La  Salle's  voyage. 

Monsieur  de  la  Salle,  having  arrived  safely  at  the  Miamis  on 
the  3d  of  November  [1681],  bent  himself,  with  his  ordinary 
activity  and  great  breadth  of  mind,  to  prepare  all  things  neces 
sary  for  his  departure.  He  selected  twenty-three  Frenchmen 
and  eighteen  Indians  inured  to  war,  some  Mahingans  [Mohicans] 
or  Loups,  some  Abenaquis.  They  desired  to  take  along  ten  of 
their  women  to  cook  for  them,  as  their  custom  is,  while  they 
were  fishing  or  hunting.  These  women  took  with  them  three 
children,  so  that  the  whole  party  consisted  of  but  fifty-four 
persons,  including  the  Sieur  de  Tonty  and  the  Sieur  Dautray, 
son  of  the  late  Sieur  Bourdon,  procurator-general  of  Quebec. 
On  the  2ist  of  December  I  embarked  with  the  Sieur  de  Tonty 

85 


86  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

and  part  of  our  people  on  Lake  Dauphin  [Michigan]  to  go 
toward  the  divine  river  called  by  the  Indians  Checagon,  in  order 
to  make  the  necessary  arrangements  for  our  voyage.  The  Sieur 
de  la  Salle  joined  us  there  with  the  rest  of  his  troop,  on  the 
4th  of  January,  1682,  and  found  that  the  Sieur  de  Tonty  had 
made  sleds  to  put  all  the  party  on  and  carry  them  over  the 
Checagon,  which  was  frozen;  for  though  the  winter  in  these 
parts  lasts  only  two  months,  it  is  notwithstanding  very  severe. 
There  is  a  portage  to  be  made  to  enter  the  river  of  the  Illinois, 
which  we  found  also  frozen:  we  made  it  on  the  2yth  of  the 
same  month,  dragging  our  canoes,  our  baggage  and  provisions 
about  eighty  leagues'  distance  on  the  river  Seignelay  [Illinois], 
which  runs  down  into  the  river  Colbert * ;  we  traversed  the  great 
village  of  the  Illinois  without  finding  anyone  there,  the  Indians 
having  gone  to  winter  thirty  leagues  lower  down  on  Lake 
Pimiteoui  [Peoria],  where  Fort  Crevecceur  stands.  We  found 
it  in  good  condition.2  The  Sieur  de  la  Salle  left  his  orders  here, 
and  as  from  this  spot  navigation  is  open  at  all  seasons  and  free 
from  ice,  we  embarked  in  our  canoes,  and  on  the  6th  of  Feb 
ruary  reached  the  mouth  of  the  river  Seignelay,  situated  at 
latitude  38°.  The  ice  which  was-  floating  down  on  the  river 
Colbert  at  this  place  kept  us  there  till  the  thirteenth  of  the 
same  month,  when  we  set  out  and  six  leagues  lower  down  we 
found  the  river  of  the  Ozages  [the  Emissitoura  or  Missouri] 
coming  from  the  west.  It  is  full  as  large  as  the  river  Colbert, 
into  which  it  empties,  and  which  is  so  disturbed  by  it  that  from 
the  mouth  of  this  river  the  water  is  hardly  drinkable.  The 
Indians  assured  us  that  this  river  is  formed  by  many  others, 
and  that  they  ascend  it  for  ten  or  twelve  days  to  a  mountain 
where  they  have  their  source ;  and  that  beyond  this  mountain  is 
the  sea,  where  great  ships  are  seen.  .  .  . 

1  The  Mississippi  was  named  the  Colbert  by  La  Salle,  says  Tonty, 
on  the  occasion  of  his  passage  from  the  Illinois  (Seignelay)  into  the 
main  stream. 

a  It  was  built  by  La  Salle  in  1680,  and  left  as  an  outpost  when  he 
was  obliged  to  return  to  Fort  Frontenac  on  account  of  the  failure  of 
supplies,  "  all  Canada,"  as  his  companion  Father  Membre  says,  "  seem 
ing  in  league  against  his  undertaking." 


The  Struggle  with  France  for  North  America       87 

At  last  ...  we  arrived,  on  the  6th  of  April,  at  a  point  where 
the  river  divides  into  three  channels.  The  Sieur  de  la  Salle 
divided  his  party  the  next  day  into  three  bands  to  go  and  explore 
them.  He  took  the  western,  the  Sieur  Dautray  the  southern, 
the  Sieur  Tonty,  whom  I  accompanied,  the  middle  one.  These 
three  channels  are  beautiful  and  deep.  The  water  is  brackish ; 
after  two  leagues  it  became  perfectly  salt,  and  advancing  on, 
we  discovered  the  open  sea,  so  that  on  the  gth  of  April,  with 
all  possible  solemnity,  we  performed  the  ceremony  of  planting 
the  cross  and  raising  the  arms  of  France.  After  we  had  chanted 
the  hymn  of  the  church,  Vexilla  Regis^  and  the  Te  Deum?  the 
Sieur  de  la  Salle,  in  the  name  of  his  majesty,  took  possession 
of  that  river,  of  all  rivers  that  enter  it,  and  of  all  countries 
watered  by  them.  An  authentic  act  was  drawn  up,  signed  by 
all  of  us  there,  and,  to  the  sound  of  a  volley  from  all  our  mus 
kets,  a  leaden  plate,  on  which  were  engraved  the  arms  of  France 
and  the  names  of  those  who  had  just  made  the  discovery,  was 
deposited  in  the  earth.  The  Sieur  de  la  Salle,  who  always  carried 
an  astrolabe,  took  the  latitude  of  this  mouth.  .  .  .  This  river  is 
estimated  at  800  leagues  long:  we  travelled  at  least  350  from 
the  mouth  of  the  river  Seignelay. 

To  the  energetic  Irishman,  Thomas  Dongan,  Governor  of  26.  Dongan 
the  Province  of  New  York  under  the  later  Stuarts,  belongs 
the  credit  of  first  perceiving  clearly  and  resisting  firmly  the  I<587 
dangerous  French  encroachments  to  the  south  of  the  great       I 
lakes.3    Dongan  protests  first  to  Governor  La  Barre  of 

1  The  famous  Latin  hymn  Vexilla  regis prodeunt  ("  The  banners  of  the 
King  advance  "),  composed  by  Venantius  Fortunatus  in  the  sixth  century. 

2  The  ancient  hymn  Te  Deum  laudamus  ("  We  praise  thee,  O  God  !  "), 
composed  by  an  unknown  writer  in  the  fourth  century. 

3  "  Dongan  entered  the  lists  against  the  French.   If  his  policy  should 
prevail,    New    France   would    dwindle   to    a   feeble    province    on   the 
St.  Lawrence  :  if  the  French  policy  should  prevail,  the  English  col 
onies  would  remain  a  narrow  strip  along  the  sea.    Dongan's  cause  was 
that  of  all  the  colonies ;   but  they  all  stood  aloof  and  left  him  to  wage 
the  strife  alone.    Canada  was  matched  against  New  York,  or  rather 
against  the  Governor  of  New  York." —  Parkman,  Count  Frontenac  and 
New  France  under  Louis  XIV,  Vol.  I,  p.  124. 


88  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

Canada,  then  to  his  successor,  Denonville  (1685),  against 
the  extension  of  their  authority  and  arms  among  the  Iro- 
quois,  who  were  "  his  Majesty  of  Great  Britain's  subjects." 
The  correspondence  between  Dongan  and  Denonville  is 
an  amusing  compound  of  deferential  scolding  and  tart 
amenities.1 

GOVERNOR  DONGAN  TO  M.  DE  DENONVILLE, 

OCTOBER  13,  1685 
SIR: 

I  have  had  the  honor  of  receiving  your  letter,  and  greatly 
rejoice  at  having  so  good  a  neighbor  whose  character  is  so  wide 
spread  that  it  has  anticipated  your  arrival.  I  have  written  several 
letters  to  M.  de  la  Barre ;  that  which  you  have  honored  is  one 
of  the  first.  I  presume  the  others  have  not  been  shown  to  you. 
He  meddled  in  an  affair  that  might  have  created  some  indiffer 
ence  between  the  two  Crowns  which  gave  me  considerable  pain, 
as  I  entertain  a  very  high  respect  for  the  King  of  France,  of 
whose  bread  I  have  eaten  so  much,2  that  I  feel  myself  under 
the  obligation  to  prevent  whatsoever  can  give  the  least  umbrage 
to  our  masters.  M.  de  la  Barre  is  a  very  worthy  gentleman,  but 
he  has  not  written  to  me  in  a  civil  and  befitting  style.  .  .  . 

The  King  your  master  has  no  doubt  been  deeply  afflicted  at 
the  death  of  the  late  King  Charles 3  of  glorious  memory,  and 
I  trust  his  present  Majesty  [James  II]  will  keep  up  as  good 
understanding  and  amity  as  the  late  King  with  the  Crown  of 
France.  It  will  not  be  my  fault  if  we  do  not  cultivate  a  cordial 
friendship,  being,  with  respect  and  truth, 

Your  most  affectionate  servant, 

Dongan 

1  Dongan  in  his  report  to  the  Lords  of  Trade  in  1687  writes  :  "  The 
new  Governor  Monsr  de  Nonville  has  written  mee  that  hee  desires  to 
have  a  very  good  correspondence  with  this  Governmt  &  I  hope  he  will 
bee  as  good  as   his  word."  —  O'Callaghan,   Documentary  History  of 
New  York,  Vol.1,  p.  158. 

2  Dongan    had    commanded    an    Irish    regiment    in    the    army    of 
Louis  XIV. 

8  Charles  the  Second,  who  died  February  6,  1685. 


The  Struggle  with  France  for  North  America       89 

M.  DE  DENONVILLE  TO  GOVERNOR  DONGAN, 

JUNE  5,  1686 
SIR: 

I  have  recd  the  letter  you  did  me  the  honor  to  write  me  on 
the  1 3th  Octbr  last.  The  very  particular  regard  I  have  for  your 
merit  causes  me  to  receive  with  much  pleasure  all  the  kind 
expressions  with  which  your  letter  is  filled.  Be  assured,  Sir, 
that  I  can  appreciate  all  the  obligations  I  am  under  to  endeavor 
to  deserve  your  friendship.  .  .  . 

In  regard  to  the  business  wherein  Monsr  de  la  Barre  inter 
fered  with  what  might  have  created  a  coolness  between  the  two 
Crowns,  as  you  write  me,  I  presume  you  refer  to  his  quarrel 
with  the  Senecas.  As  to  that,  I  shall  state,  Sir,  to  you  that  I 
believe  you  understand  the  character  of  that  nation  sufficiently 
well  to  perceive  that  it  is  not  easy  to  live  in  friendship  with 
people  who  have  neither  religion  nor  honour  nor  subordination. 
M.  de  la  Barre  had  many  causes  of  complaint  against  their  pro 
ceedings.  .  .  .  The  King,  my  master,  entertains  affection  and 
friendship  for  that  country  through  the  zeal  alone  he  feels  for 
the  Establishment  of  Religion  there  and  the  support  and  pro 
tection  of  the  Missionaries  whose  zeal  to  preach  the  gospel  leads 
them  to  expose  themselves  to  the  brutalities  and  persecutions 
of  the  most  ferocious  of  tribes. 

You  are  better  acquainted  than  I  am  with  what  they  have 
suffered,  the  torments  they  have  endured  and  the  fatigues  they 
experience  every  day  for  Jesus  Christ  his  name.  I  know  your 
heart  is  penetrated  with  the  glory  of  that  name  which  makes 
Hell  tremble  and  at  the  mention  of  which  all  the  powers  of 
Heaven  fall  prostrate.  Shall  we,  Sir,  be  so  unfortunate  as  to 
refuse  them  our  Master's  protection  to  sustain  them  and  to  con 
tribute  a  little  on  our  part  to  win  poor  souls  to  Jesus  Christ,  by 
aiding  them  to  overcome  the  enemy  of  God  who  rules  them.  .  .  . 

Hitherto  the  avarice  of  our  Traders  warred  against  the  Gospel 
by  supplying  these  people  with  arms  to  wage  war  against  us, 
and  with  the  liquor  that  makes  them  mad.  You  are  a  man  of 
rank  and  abounding  in  merit ;  you  love  the  religion  —  Well,  Sir, 
are  there  no  means  by  which  we  can  come  to  an  understanding, 


9°  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

you  and  1,  to  maintain  our  missionaries  by  keeping  those  fero 
cious  tribes  in  respect  &  fear.  .  .  .  What  have  not  the  Iroquois 
done  to  the  poor  people  of  Merilande  [Maryland]  and  Virginia  ? 
Truly,  I  do  not  understand  how  the  heart  of  a  Christian  can  be 
hardened  to  such  a  degree  as  to  behold  with  a  dry  eye  that  it  is 

they  themselves  who  destroy  their  bretheren  and  compatriots 

I  should  have  greatly  desired  to  be  conversant  with  English, 
to  be  able  to  write  you  in  your  tongue,  and  thus  prove  to  you 
the  consideration  I  entertain  for  you.  But  as  I  know  that  you 
are  acquainted  with  French,  I  have  presumed  you  would  consent 
that  I  should  not  borrow  another  language,  in  order  to  avoid  the 
risk  of  writing  you  in  villainous  latin. 

I  am,  Sir, 
Your  most  humble  &  most  obedient  servant 

M.  de  Denonville 

GOVERNOR  DONGAN  TO  M.  DE  DENONVILLE, 
MAY  22,  1686 

I  have  sent  for  the  five  nations  of  the  Indyans  that  belong  to 
this  Government  to  meet  me  at  this  place  [Albany],  to  give  them 
in  charge,  that  they  should  not  goe  to  your  side  of  the  great 
lakes,  nor  disturb  your  Indyans  and  traders,  but  since  my 
comeing  here  I  am  informed  that  our  Indyans  are  aprehensive 
of  warr,  by  your  putting  stores  into  Cataract1  and  ordering 
some  forces  to  meet  there ;  I  know  you  are  a  man  of  judgment, 
and  that  you  will  not  attack  the  King  of  England's  subjects.  .  .  . 
I  am  likewise  informed  that  you  intended  to  build  a  fort  at  a 
place  called  Ohniagero  [Niagara]  on  this  side  of  the  lake  within 
my  master's  territoryes  without  question,  (I  cannot  beleev  it)  that 
a  person  that  has  your  reputation  in  the  world,  would  follow  the 
steps  of  Monsr  Labarr  [de  la  Barre],  and  be  ill  advized  by  some 
interested  persons  in  your  Govern1  to  make  disturbance  between 

1  In  his  report  to  the  Lords  of  Trade  in  1687  Dongan  says:  "Ever 
since  my  coming  hither  it  has  been  no  small  trouble  to  keep  the  Sini- 
caes  [Senecas]  from  making  warr  upon  the  French,  Monsieur  de  la 
Barre  was  very  hot  upon  it  &  brought  a  great  many  men  to  a  place 
called  Cadaraque.  [Cataract,  Fort  Frontenac,  or  the  present  Kingston] 
lying  on  the  lake,  with  the  intent  to  fall  on  the  Indians.  .  .  Monsr 


The  Struggle  ivith  France  for  North  America      91 

our  Masters  subjects  in  those  parts  of  the  world  for  a  little 
pelttree  [peltry] ;  when  all  those  differences  may  be  ended  by 
an  amicable  correspondence  between  us ;  if  there  be  anything 
amiss,  I  doe  assure  you  it  shall  not  be  my  fault,  tho'  we  have 
suffered  much,  and  doe  dayly  by  your  people's  tradeing  within 
the  King  of  England's  territoryes.  .  .  . 

Setting  apart  the  station  I  am  in,  I  am  as  much  Monsr  Des 
Novilles  [Denonville's]  humble  servant  as  any  friend  he  has, 
and  will  omit  no  opportunity  of  manifesting  the  same.  .  .  . 

M.  DE  DENONVILLE  TO  GOVERNOR  DONGAN, 
JUNE  20,  1686 

oIR, 

I  received  the  letter  which  you  did  me  the  honor  to  write  me 
on  the  22d  May  last.  You  will  sufficiently  learn  in  the  end  how 
devoid  of  all  foundation  are  the  advices  which  you  have  had  of 
my  pretended  designs,  and  that  all  that  has  been  told  you  by  the 
deserters  from  the  Colony  [New  France]  ought  to  be  received 
by  you  with  much  suspicion.  You,  Sir,  are  too  well  acquainted 
with  the  service  and  the  manner  that  things  must  be  conducted, 
to  take  any  umbrage  at  the  supplies  which  I  send  to  Cataracouy 
[Cataract]  for  the  subsistence  of  the  soldiers  I  have  there.  You 
know  the  Savages  sufficiently  to  be  well  assured  that  it  would  be 
very  imprudent  on  my  part  to  leave  that  place  without  having 
enough  of  supplies  and  munitions  there  for  one  year's  time.  .  . 

In  respect  to  the  pretensions  which  you  say  you  have  to  the 
lands  of  this  country,  certainly  you  are  not  well  informed  of  all 
the  entries  into  possession  (prises  de  possessions]  which  have 
been  made  in  the  name  of  the  King  my  Master,  and  of  the 
establishments  of  long  standing  which  we  have  on  the  land  and 
on  the  lakes ;  and  as  I  have  no  doubt  but  our  Masters  will 
easily  agree  among  themselves,  seeing  the  union  and  good 
understanding  that  obtain  between  them,1  I  willingly  consent 

de  Nonville  [Denonville]  put  a  great  deal  of  provisions  into  &  keeps 
four  or  five  hundred  men  in  Cadaraque."  —  O'Callaghan,  Documentary 
History  of  New  York,  Vol.  I,  p.  158. 

1  For  the  relations  of  the  later  Stuarts  with  Louis  XIV  of  France 
and  the  change  in  those  relations  brought  about. by  the  accession  of 
William  of  Orange,  see  Muzzey,  An  American  History,  pp.  78,  79. 


92  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

with  you  that  their  Majesties  regulate  the  limit  among  them 
selves,  wishing  nothing  more  than  to  live  with  you  in  good 
understanding ;  but  to  that  end,  Sir,  it  would  be  very  apropos 
that  a  gentleman,  so  worthy  as  you,  should  not  grant  protection 
to  all  the  rogues,  vagabonds  and  thieves  who  desert  and  seek 
refuge  with  you,  and  who  to  acquire  some  merit  with  you,  be 
lieve  they  cannot  do  better  than  to  tell  you  many  impertinencies 
of  us,  which  will  have  no  end  so  long  as  you  will  listen  to  them. 
Your  very  humble  and  very  obedient  Servant 

The  M.  de  Denonville 

GOVERNOR  DONGAN  TO  M.  DE  DENONVILLE, 

JULY  26,  1686 
biR, 

I  had  the  honor  to  receave  two  letters  from  you  one  dated 
the  6th  the  other  the  2oth  of  June  last.  .  .  .  Beleive  it  it  is 
much  joy  to  have  soe  good  a  neighbour  of  soe  excellent  qualifi 
cations  and  temper  and  of  a  humour  altogether  differing  from 
M.  de  la  Barre  your  predecessor  who  was  so  furious  and  hasty 
very  much  addicted  to  great  words  as  if  I  had  bin  to  have  bin 
frighted  by  them.  .  .  . 

I  have  heard  that  before  ever  the  King  your  Master  pre 
tended  to  Cannida,  the  Indians  so  far  as  the  South  sea  were 
under  the  English  Dominion  and  always  traded  with  Albany. 
Maryland  and  Virginia,  but  that  according  to  your  desire  with 
very  good  reason  is  wholly  referred  to  our  Masters,  and  I 
heartely  pray  that  neither  you  nor  myselfe  give  occasion  of  any 
of  the  least  misunderstanding  between  them.  . . .  The  stricktest 
care  shall  be  taken  concerning  runawayes  from  you  —  but  if 
there  be  any  soldiers  who  have  deserted,  I  desire  you  to  give 
me  the  assurance  that  they  shall  not  loose  their  lives. 

Sir, 
Your  most  humble  and  affectionate  servant 

Tho.  Dongan 


The  Struggle  with  France  for  North  America       93 

M.  DE  DENONVILLE  TO  GOVERNOR  DONGAN, 
OCTOBER  1,  1686 

...  I  do  not  believe,  Sir,  that  the  King  your  Master  approves 
all  the  pains  you  have  taken  to  induce  by  presents  and  arms, 
the  entire  Iroquois  nation  to  wage  war  this  year  against  us  — 
nor  the  exhortations  you  have  made  them  to  pillage  the  French 
who  trade  to  places  which  we  acquired  heretofore,  previous  to 
New  York  being  what  it  is.  You  proposed,  Sir,  to  submit  every 
thing  to  the  decision  of  our  Masters.  Nevertheless  your  emissary 
to  the  Onnontague's  [Onondagas]  told  all  the  Nations,  in  your 
name,  to  pillage  and  make  war  on  us.  ...  I  ask  you,  Sir,  what 
do  you  wish  me  to  think  of  all  this,  and  if  these  things  accord 
with  the  letter  you  did  me  the  honour  to  write  on  the  2yth  of 
July,  which  is  filled  with  civilities  and  just  sentiments.  ...  I  am 
heartily  convinced  of  the  zeal  of  the  King  your  Master  for  the 
progress  of  the  Religion  .  .  .  but  it  were  desirable,  Sir,  that  his 
piety  should  have  the  like  effect  under  your  orders,  that  you 
would  enter  with  greater  accord  than  you  do  into  the  means  of 
checking  the  insolence  of  the  enemies  of  the  Faith  .  .  .  think 
you,  Sir,  that  Religion  will  make  any  progress  whilst  your  mer 
chants  will  supply,  as  they  do,  Eau  de  Vie  in  abundance  which, 
as  you  ought  to  know,  converts  the  Savages  into  Demons  and 
their  Cabins  into  counterparts  and  theatres  of  Hell. 

I  hope,  Sir,  you  will  reflect  on  all  this,  and  that  you  will  be 
so  good  as  to  contribute  to  that  union  which  I  desire  and  which 
you  wish  for.  .  .  . 

Your  very  humble  and  obedient  Servant 

The  M.  de  Denonville 

GOVERNOR  DONGAN  TO  M.  DE  DENONVILLE, 
DECEMBER  1,  1686 

.  .  .  Bee  assured,  Sir,  that  I  have  not  solicited  nor  bribed  the 
Indians  to  arme  and  make  warr  against  you.  ...  I  have  only 
permitted  severall  of  Albany  to  trade  amongst  the  remotest  In 
dians  with  strict  orders  not  to  meddle  with  any  of  your  people, 
and  I  hope  they  will  find  the  same  civillity  from  you.  ...  I  have 


94  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

written  to  the  King  my  Master  who  hath  as  much  zeal  as  any 
prince  liveing  to  propagate  the  Christian  faith  and  assure[d]  him 
how  necessary  it  is  to  send  hither  some  Fathers  to  preach  the 
Gospel  to  the  natives  allyed  to  us,  and  care  would  be  then  taken 
to  dissuade  them  from  their  drunken  debauches,  though  certainly 
our  Rum  doth  as  little  hurt  as  your  Brandy  and  in  the  opinion 
of  Christians  is  much  more  wholesome ;  however,  to  keep  the 
Indians  temperate  and  sober  is  a  very  good  and  Christian  per 
formance,  but  to  prohibit  them  all  strong  liquors  seems  a  little 
hard  and  very  turkish.  .  .  . 

Sir,  assuredly  with  all  due  respect 

Your  most  humble  and  affectionate  servant 

T.  Dongan 

DONGAN  TO  DENONVILLE 

June  20,  1687 

Sr,  I  send  you  some  Oranges  hearing  they  are  a  rarity  in  your 
partes  and  would  send  more  but  the  bearer  wants  conveniency 


of  Carriage. 


DENONVILLE  TO  DONGAN 


August  27,  1687 

I  thank  you,  Sir,  for  your  oranges.  It  was  a  great  pity  that 
they  should  have  been  all  rotten. 

Benjamin  Franklin,  whose  long  life  almost  spanned  the 
eighteenth  century  (1706-1790),  was  the  most  versatile 
genius  of  our  colonial  period.  A  few  months  before  his 
death  he  received  from  President  Washington  this  message : 
"If  to  be  venerated  for  benevolence,  if  to  be  admired  for 
talents,  if  to  be  beloved  for  philanthropy  can  gratify  the 
human  mind,  you  must  have  the  pleasing  consolation  that 
you  have  not  lived  in  vain."  1  One  of  Franklin's  most 

l  Writings  of  George  Washington,  ed.  W.  C.  Ford,  Vol.  XI,  p.  432. 


The  Struggle  with  France  for  North  America      95 

cherished  plans  was  the  union  of  the  colonies  under  the 
presidency  of  a  benevolent  governor-general  from  the 
mother  land,  for  better  mutual  acquaintance  and  common 
defense  against  the  French  and  Indians.  In  his  "Auto 
biography,"  he  gives  the  following  account  of  the  plan 
of  union : 

In  1754,  war  with  France  being  again  apprehended,  a  con 
gress  of  commissioners  from  the  different  colonies  was,  by  order 
of  the  Lords  of  Trade,1  to  be  assembled  at  Albany,  there  to  con 
fer  with  the  chiefs  of  the  Six  Nations  concerning  the  means  of 
defending  both  their  country  and  ours.  Governor  Hamilton  hav 
ing  received  this  order,  acquainted  the  House  with  it,  requesting 
they  would  furnish  proper  presents  for  the  Indians,  to  be  given 
on  this  occasion ;  and  naming  the  speaker  (Mr.  Norris)  and  my 
self  to  join  Mr.  Thomas  Penn  and  Mr.  Secretary  Peters  as  com 
missioners  to  act  for  Pennsylvania.  The  House  approv'd  the 
nomination,  and  provided  the  goods  for  the  present  .  .  .  and 
we  met  the  other  commissioners  at  Albany  about  the  middle 
of  June. 

In  our  way  thither,  I  projected  and  drew  a  plan  for  the  union 
of  all  the  colonies  under  one  government,  so  far  as  might  be 
necessary  for  defence,  and  other  important  general  purposes. 
As  we  passed  through  New  York,  I  had  there  shown  my  project 
to  Mr.  James  Alexander  and  Mr.  Kennedy,  two  gentlemen  of 
great  knowledge  in  public  affairs,  and,  being  fortified  by  their 
approbation,  I  ventured  to  lay  it  before  the  Congress.  It  then 
appeared  that  several  of  the  commissioners  had  formed  plans 
of  the  same  kind.  A  previous  question  was  first  taken,  whether 
a  union  should  be  established,  which  passed  in  the  affirmative 
unanimously.  A  committee  was  then  appointed,  one  member 
from  each  colony,  to  consider  the  several  plans  and  report. 
Mine  happen'd  to  be  preferr'd,  and,  with  a  few  amendments,  was 
accordingly  reported. 

1  The  Lords  Commissioners  for  Trade  and  Plantations  was  a  board 
created  in  1696  by  William  III,  a  reorganization  of  the  old  Council  for 
Foreign  Plantations  appointed  by  Charles  II  in  1660. 


96  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

By  this  plan  the  general  government  was  to  be  administered 
by  a  president-general,  appointed  and  supported  by  the  crown, 
and  a  grand  council  was  to  be  chosen  by  the  representatives  of 
the  people  of  the  several  colonies,  met  in  their  respective  assem 
blies.  The  debates  upon  it  in  Congress  went  on  daily,  hand  in 
hand  with  the  Indian  business.  Many  objections  and  difficulties 
were  started,  but  at  length  they  were  all  overcome,  and  the  plan 
was  unanimously  agreed  to,  and  copies  ordered  to  be  transmitted 
to  the  Board  of  Trade  and  to  the  assemblies  of  the  several  prov 
inces.  Its  fate  was  singular :  the  assemblies  did  not  adopt  it,  as 
they  all  thought  there  was  too  much  prerogative  in  it,  and  in 
England  it  was  judg'd  to  have  too  much  of  the  democratic.  .  .  . 

I  am  still  of  the  opinion  that  it  would  have  been  happy  for 
both  sides  of  the  water  if  it  had  been  adopted.  The  colonies, 
so  united,  would  have  been  sufficiently  strong  to  have  defended 
themselves ;  there  would  then  have  been  no  need  of  troops  from 
England :  of  course,  the  subsequent  pretence  for  taxing  America, 
and  the  bloody  contest  it  occasioned,  would  have  been  avoided. 
But  such  mistakes  are  not  new ;  history  is  full  of  the  errors  of 
states  and  princes. 

"  Look  round  the  habitable  world,  how  few 
Know  their  own  good,  or,  knowing  it,  pursue !  " 

Those  who  govern,  having  much  business  on  their  hands,  do  not 
generally  like  to  take  the  trouble  of  considering  and  carrying 
into  execution  new  projects.  The  best  public  measures  are 
therefore  seldom  adopted  from  previous  wisdom,  but  forced 
by  the  occasion. 

The  plan  drafted  by  Franklin  was  as  follows  : 

SHORT  HINTS  TOWARDS  A  SCHEME  FOR  UNITING  THE 
NORTHERN  COLONIES 

A  Governor- General 

To  be  appointed  by  the  king. 

To  be  a  military  man. 

To  have  a  salary  from  the  crown. 


The  Struggle  with  France  for  North  America      97 

To  have  a  negation  [veto]  on  all  acts  of  the  Grand  Council, 
and  carry  into  execution  whatever  is  agreed  on  by  him  and 
that  Council. 

Grand  Council 

One  member  to  be  chosen  by  the  Assembly  of  each  of  the 
smaller  colonies,  and  two  or  more  by  each  of  the  larger,  in 
proportion  to  the  sums  they  pay  yearly  into  the  general  treasury. 

Members'  Pay 

-1  shillings  sterling  per  diem,  during  their  sitting,  and 
milage  for  travelling  expenses. 

Place  and  Time  of  Meeting 

To  meet  —  — 2  times  every  year,  at  the  capital  of  each  colony, 
in  course,  unless  particular  circumstances  and  emergencies  re 
quire  more  frequent  meetings,  and  alteration  in  the  course  of 
places.  The  governor-general  to  judge  of  those  circumstances, 
&c.  and  call  by  his  writs. 

General  Treasury 

Its  fund,  an  excise  [internal  revenue  tax]  on  strong  liquors, 
pretty  equally  drunk  in  the  colonies,  or  duty  on  liquor  imported, 
or  -  —  shillings  on  each  license  of  a  public  house,  or  excise  on 
superfluities,  as  tea,  &c.  &c.  All  which  would  pay  in  some  pro 
portion  to  the  present  wealth  of  each  colony,  and  increase  as 
that  wealth  increases,  and  prevent  disputes  about  the  inequality 
of  quotas.  To  be  collected  in  each  colony  and  lodged  in  their 
treasury,  to  be  ready  for  the  payment  of  orders  issuing  from 
the  governor-general  and  grand  council  jointly. 

Duty  and  Power  of  the  Governor- General  and  Grand  Council 

To  order  all  Indian  treaties.    Make  all  Indian  purchases  not 

within  proprietary  grants.    Make  and  support  new  settlements, 

by  building  forts,  raising  and  paying  soldiers  to  garrison  the  forts, 

defend  the  frontiers,  and  annoy  the  enemy.    Equip  guard-vessels 

1  Later  filled  in  "  ten."  2  Later  filled  in  "  once." 


9$  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

to  scour  the  coasts  from  privateers  in  time  of  war,  and  protect 
the  trade,  and  everything  that  shall  be  found  necessary  for  the 
defence  and  support  of  the  colonies  in  general,  and  increasing 
and  extending  their  settlements  &c.  For  the  expense  they  may 
draw  on  the  fund  in  the  treasury  of  any  colony. 

Manner  of  Forming  this  Union 

The  scheme,  being  first  well  considered,  corrected,  and  im 
proved  by  the  commissioners  at  Albany,  to  be  sent  home,  and 
an  act  of  Parliament  obtained  for  establishing  it. 

The  draft  was  sent  to  Mr.  James  Alexander  with  the 

following  letter  : 

New  York,  June  8,  1754 

Mr.  Alexander  is  requested  to  peruse  these  Hints,  and  make 
remarks  in  correcting  or  improving  the  scheme,1  and  send  the 
paper  with  such  remarks  to  Dr  Golden,  for  his  sentiments,  who 
is  desired  to  forward  the  whole  to  Albany  to  their  very  humble 

servant>  B.  Franklin 

THE  FALL  OF  NEW  FRANCE 

28.  Wash-          As  the  eighteenth  century  progressed  the  rivalry  between 
o  the    I7rencri  and  English  in  America  increased.    The  abandon- 


French  forts,  ment  Of  Nova  Scotia,  Newfoundland,  and  the  Hudson  Bay 
1753 

[831         regi°n  to  the  English,  and  the  recognition  of  the  English 

protectorate  over  the  Iroquois,  by  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht 
(1713),  marked  the  beginning  of  the  disintegration  of  the 
French  power  in  the  new  world.  The  colonies,  following 
the  example  of  New  York,  gradually  woke  to  the  danger 
of  the  French  establishments  behind  the  Alleghenies  ; 

1  Several  changes  were  made  in  the  plan  before  its  adoption  at 
Albany.  The  student  may  find  these  changes  by  comparing  the  present 
text  with  the  finished  plan  as  published  in  Macdonald,  Select  Charters 
of  American  History,  1606-1775,  pp.  2  53-2  57,  or  in  the  Old  South  Leaflets 
No.  9. 


The  Struggle  ivitk  France  for  North  America       99 

notably  Virginia,1  whose  loosely  worded  charter  of  1609 
gave  her  claims  to  all  the  Ohio  valley.  When  the  French 
built  forts  to  connect  the  Great  Lakes  with  the  Ohio  river 
system,  Governor  Dinwiddie  of  Virginia,  following  general 
instructions  to  colonial  governors  from  their  chief  Lord 
Holdernesse  to  employ  force  if  necessary  to  "  prevent  any 
such  unlawful  undertakings,"  sent  George  Washington, 
whom  he  called  "a  person  of  distinction,"2  to  warn  the 
French  to  desist.  When  Washington's  Journal  of  the  ex 
pedition  was  published  in  1754  copies  were  sent  to  all  the 
colonial  governors. 

Wednesday,  October  31,  1753 

I  was  commissioned  and  appointed  by  the  Honorable  Robert 
Dinwiddie,  Esq :  Governor,  &c.  of  Virginia,  to  visit  or  deliver 
a  letter  to  the  Commandant  of  the  French  forces  on  the  Ohio, 
and  set  out  on  the  intended  Journey  the  same  day.  The  next 
day,  I  arrived  at  Fredericksburg ,  and  engaged  Mr.  Jacob  Van- 
braam  to  be  my  French  interpreter ;  and  proceeded  with  him  to 

1  Colonel  William  Byrd  of  Virginia  wrote  the  following  "  humble 
representation"  of  the  situation  in  1735:  "On  the  back  of  the  British 
Colonies  on  the  Continent  of  America,  about  250  miles  from  the  Ocean, 
runs  a  chain  of  High  Mountains  stretching  away  from  the  North  East 
to  the  South.  ...    As  the  French  have  settlements  on  the  Western 
Rivers,  it  will  be  greatly  for  their  advantage  to  be  beforehand  with  the 
English  in  gaining  possession  of  the  Mountains,  and  for  so  doing  (be 
sides  their  encroaching  Temper)  they  will  have  the  following  Tempta 
tions.    First  that  they  may  make  themselves  masters  of  all  the  Mines, 
with  which  there  is  reason  to  believe  these  Mountains  abound.  ...    In 
the  next  place,  that  they  may  engross  all  the  Trade  with  western  In 
dians  for  Skins  and  Furrs  .  .  .  and  lastly  that  they  may  build  Forts  to 
command  the  Passes  thro  the  said  Mountains,  whereby  they  will  be  not 
only  in  condition  to  secure  their  own  Traffick  and  Settlements  West 
ward,  but  also  to  invade  the  British  Colonies  from  Thence.  .  .  .    These 
inducements  to  the  French  make  it  prudent  for  a  British  Ministry  to  be 
watchfull  and   prevent  their   Seizing  this  important  Barrier." — J.   S. 
Bassett  (ed.),  The  Writings  of  Colonel  William  Byrd,  p.  390. 

2  Washington  had  been  appointed  Major  of  Virginia  militia,  at  a  salary 
of  ;£ioo  a  year. 


loo  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

Alexandria,  where  we  provided  necessaries.  From  thence  we 
went  to  Winchester,  and  got  Baggage,  Horses,  &c. ;  and  from 
thence  we  pursued  the  new  Road  to  Wills- Creek  [Cumberland, 
Md.],  where  we  arrived  the  14th  of  November.  .  .  . 

The  excessive  Rains  and  vast  Quantities  of  Snow  which  had 
fallen  [early  in  November !]  prevented  our  reaching  Mr.  Frazier's, 
an  Indian  Trader  at  the  Mouth  of  Turtle  Creek  on  Monongehela. 
(River)  till  Thursday,  the  22 d.  .  .  .  Shingiss,  King  of  the  Dela- 
wTares  .  .  .  attended  us  to  the  Z^ggs-town,  where  we  arrived 
between  Sun-setting  and  Dark,  the  25th  Day  after  I  left 
Williamsburg.  .  .  . 

As  soon  as  I  came  to  the  Town,  I  went  to  Monakatoocha 
[an  Oneida  chief]  (as  the  Half-King  was  out  at  his  Hunting- 
Cabbin  on  little  Beaver  Creek,  about  15  miles  off),  and  informed 
him  .  .  .  that  I  was  sent  a  messenger  to  the  French  general ; 
and  was  ordered  to  call  upon  the  Sachems  of  the  Six  Nations, 
to  acquaint  them  with  it.  I  gave  him  a  String  of  Wampum  and 
a  Twist  of  Tobacco,  and  desired  him  to  send  for  the  Half-King ; 
which  he  promised  to  do  by  a  Runner  in  the  Morning,  and  for 
other  Sachems.  I  invited  him  and  the  other  great  Men  present 
to  my  Tent,  where  they  stay'd  about  an  Hour  and  return 'd.  .  .  . 

25th.  .  .  .  About  3  o'clock  this  Evening  the  Half-King  came 
to  Town.  I  went  up  and  invited  him  privately  to  my  Tent ; 
and  desired  him  to  relate  some  of  the  Particulars  of  his  Journey 
to  the  French  Commandant  and  Reception  there :  Also  to  give 
me  an  account  of  the  Ways  and  Distance.  He  told  me  that  the 
nearest  and  levellest  Way  was  now  impassable,  by  Reason  of 
many  large  mirey  Savannas ;  that  we  must  be  obliged  to  go  by 
Venango,  and  should  not  get  to  the  near  Fort  under  5  or  6 
Nights  Sleep,  good  Travelling.  .  .  . 

26th.  We  met  in  Council  at  the  Long-House,  about  9  o'clock, 
where  I  spoke  to  them  [the  Sachems]  as  follows : 

"  Brothers,  I  have  called  you  together  in  Council  by  order 
of  your  Brother,  the  Governor  of  Virginia,  to  acquaint  you 
that  I  am  sent  writh  all  possible  Dispatch,  to  visit,  and  deliver 
a  Letter  to  the  French  Commandant,  of  very  great  Importance 
to  your  Brothers,  the  English  ;  and  I  dare  say  to  you  their 
friends  and  allies. 


The  Struggle  with  France  for  North  America      101 

"  I  was  desired,  Brothers,  by  your  Brother  the  Governor,  to 
call  upon  you,  the  Sachems  of  the  Nations,  to  inform  you  of  it, 
and  to  ask  your  Advice  and  Assistance,  to  proceed  the  nearest 
and  best  Road  to  the  French.  You  see,  Brothers,  I  have  gotten 
thus  far  on  my  Journey. 

"  His  Honour  likewise  desired  me  to  apply  to  you  for  some  of 
your  young  Men,  to  conduct  and  provide  Provisions  for  us  on 
our  Way ;  and  be  a  Safe-guard  against  those  French  Indians 
who  have  taken  up  the  hatchet  against  us.  I  have  spoken  this 
particularly  to  you,  Brothers,  because  his  Honour  our  Governor 
treats  you  as  good  friends  and  Allies ;  and  holds  you  in  great 
Esteem.  To  confirm  what  I  have  said,  I  give  you  this  String 
of  Wampum."  . 

After  they  had  considered  for  some  time  on  the  above  Dis 
course,  the  Half-King  got  up  and  spoke.  .  .  . 

"  I  rely  upon  you  as  a  Brother  ought  to  do,  as  you  say  we 
are  Brothers  and  one  People :  we  shall  put  Heart  in  Hand  and 
speak  to  our  Fathers  the  French  concerning  the  Speech  they 
made  to  me 1 ;  and  you  may  depend  that  we  will  endeavor  to 
be  your  Guard.  ..." 

3oth.  .  .  .  We  set  out  about  9  o'clock  with  the  Half-King 
Jeskakake,  White  Thunder,  and  the  Hunter ;  and  travelled  on 
the  road  to  Venango,  where  we  arrived  the  4th  of  December, 
without  any  Thing  remarkable  happening  but  a  continued  Series 
of  bad  Weather.  This  is  an  old  Indian  Town,  situated  at  the 
Mouth  of  French  Creek  on  Ohio ;  and  lies  near  N.  about  60 
miles  from  the  Z^ggy-Town,  but  more  than  70  the  Way  we 
were  obliged  to  go.  We  found  the  French  Colours  hoisted  at 
a  House  from  which  they  had  driven  Mr.  John  Frazier,  an 
English  Subject.  I  immediately  repaired  to  it  to  know  where 
the  Commander  resided.  There  were  three  Officers,  one  of 


1  The  Half-King  had  just  returned  from  a  visit  to  the  French  at 
Venango  to  try  to  dissuade  them  from  "  building  houses  on  the  Indians' 
jand  and  taking  it  by  force."  The  French  general  had  defiantly  replied 
that  he  was  as  little  afraid  of  the  Indians  as  of  "  Flies  or  Musquitos," 
and  that  his  forces  were  "  as  the  Sand  upon  the  Sea  Shore.  ...  I 
tell  you  that  down  that  River  [Ohio]  I  will  go,  and  will  build  upon  it 
according  to  my  command."  —  Washington,  Journal,  p.  18. 


102  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

whom,  Capt.  Joncaire,  informed  me  that  he  had  the  Command 
of  the  Ohio :  But  that  there  was  a  General  Officer  at  the  near 
Fort,  where  he  advised  me  to  apply  for  an  Answer.  He  in 
vited  us  to  sup  with  them :  and  treated  us  with  the  greatest 
Complaisance. 

The  Wine,  as  they  dosed  themselves  pretty  plentifully  with 
it,  soon  banished  the  Restraint  which  at  first  appeared  in  their 
Conversation ;  and  gave  a  Licence  to  their  Tongues  to  reveal 
their  Sentiments  more  freely.  They  told  me,  that  it  was  their 
absolute  Design  to  take  Possession  of  the  Ohio,  and  by  G — 
they  would  do  it :  For  altho'  they  were  sensible  the  English 
could  raise  two  Men  for  their  one  ;  yet  they  knew  their  Motions 
were  too  slow  and  dilatory  to  prevent  any  Undertaking  of  theirs. 
They  pretended  to  have  an  undoubted  Right  to  the  River,  from 
a  Discovery  made  by  one  La  Salle  60  years  ago.  .  .  . 

yth  (Dec.).  ...  At  n  o'Clock  we  set  out  for  the  Fort,  and 
were  prevented  from  arriving  there  till  the  nth  by  excessive 
Rains,  Snows,  and  bad  Travelling  through  many  Mires  and 
Swamps.  .  .  . 

1 2th.  I  was  prepared  early  to  wait  on  the  Commander,  and 
was  received  and  conducted  to  him  by  the  Second  Officer  in 
Command.  I  acquainted  him  with  my  Business  and  offered  my 
Commission  and  Letter.  .  .  .  This  Commander  is  a  Knight  of 
the  Military  Order  of  St.  Lewis  and  named  Legardeur  de  St. 
Pierre.  He  is  an  elderly  Gentleman  and  has  much  the  Air  of 
a  Soldier.  .  .  .  The  Chief  Officers  retired  to  hold  a  Council  of 
War ;  which  gave  me  an  Opportunity  of  taking  the  Dimensions 
of  the  Fort,  and  making  what  Observations  I  could.  .  .  . 

1 4th.  This  Evening  I  received  an  Answer  to  his  Honour 
the  Governour's  [Dinwiddie's]  Letter  from  the  Commandant.  .  .  . 

1 5th.  The  Commandant  ordered  a  plentiful  Store  of  Liquor, 
Provision  &c.  to  be  put  on  Board  our  Canoe ;  he  appeared  to 
be  extremely  complaisant,  tho'  he  was  exerting  every  Artifice 
which  he  could  invent  to  set  our  own  Indians  at  variance  with 
us,  to  prevent  their  going  until  after  our  Departure.  .  .  . 

1 6th.  .  .  .  We  had  a  tedious  and  very  fatiguing  Passage 
down  the  Creek.  Several  Times  we  had  like  to  have  been 


'The  Struggle  with  France  for  North  America      103 

staved  against  Rocks  ;  and  many  Times  were  obliged  all  Hands 
to  get  out  and  remain  in  the  Water  Half  an  Hour  or  more, 
getting  over  the  Shoals. 

23d.  .  .  .  The  Horses  grew  less  able  to  travel  every  Day ; 
the  Cold  increased  very  fast;  and  the  Roads  were  becoming 
much  worse  by  a  de^ep  Snow  continually  freezing.  Therefore 
as  I  was  uneasy  to  get  back,  to  make  Report  of  my  Proceed 
ings  to  his  Honour  the  Governor,  I  determined  to  prosecute 
my  Journey  the  nearest  Way  through  the  Woods,  on  Foot.  .  .  . 
I  took  my  necessary  Papers ;  pulled  off  my  Cloaths ;  and  tied 
myself  up  in  a  Match  Coat.  Then  with  Gun  in  Hand  and 
Pack  at  my  Back,  in  which  were  my  Papers  and  Provisions,  I 
set  out  with  Mr.  Gist,  fitted  in  the  same  manner.  .  .  . 

The  Day  following  ...  we  fell  in  with  a  Party  of  French 
Indians,  who  had  lain  in  wait  for  us.  One  of  them  fired  at 
Mr.  Gist  or  me,  not  15  steps  off,  but  fortunately  missed.  .  .  . 
The  next  day  we  got  to  the  River.  .  .  .  W7e  expected  to  have 
found  the  River  frozen,  but  it  was  not,  only  about  50  yards 
from  each  Shore.  .  .  .  There  was  no  way  for  getting  over  but 
on  a  Raft.  Which  we  set  about  with  but  one  poor  Hatchet  and 
finished  just  after  Sun-setting.  .  .  .  Before  we  were  half  way 
over  we  were  jammed  in  the  Ice  in  such  a  Manner  that  we 
expected  every  moment  our  Raft  to  sink  and  ourselves  to  perish. 
I  put  out  my  setting  pole  to  try  to  stop  the  Raft  that  the  Ice 
might  pass  by ;  when  the  Rapidity  of  the  Stream  threw  it  with 
so  much  Violence  against  the  Pole  that  it  jerked  me  out  into 
Ten  Feet  Water:  but  I  fortunately  saved  myself  by  catching 
hold  of  one  of  the  Raft  Logs.  .  .  .  The  Cold  was  so  extremely 
severe  that  Mr.  Gist  had  all  his  Fingers  and  some  of  his  Toes 
frozen.  .  .  . 

.  .  .  Arrived  at  Mr.  Gisfs  at  Monongahela  the  2d  (Jan.), 
where  I  bought  a  Horse,  Saddle,  etc.  The  6th  we  met  17 
Horses  loaded  with  Materials  and  Stores,  for  a  Fort  at  the 
Forks  of  the  Ohio,  and  the  Day  after  some  Families  going  out 
to  settle.  This  Day  we  arrived  at  Will's  Creek,  after  as  fatiguing 
a  Journey  as  it  is  possible  to  conceive,  rendered  so  by  excessive 
bad  Weather.  . 


104  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

Arrived  in  Williamsburgh  the  1 6th ;  when  I  waited  upon  his 
Honour  the  Governor  with  the  Letter  I  had  brought  from  the 
French  Commandant 1 ;  and  to  give  an  Account  of  the  Success 
of  my  Proceedings. 

James  Wolfe's  victory  on  the  Plains  of  Abraham  was 
the  decisive  blow  in  the  struggle  between  England  and 
France  for  mastery  in  North  America.  The  following 
account  of  the  battle  is  taken  from  the  "  Historical  Journal " 
of  Captain  John  Knox  of  Wolfe's  army.  The  Journal  was 
published  in  London  in  1 769,  but,  according  to  the  author's 
statement  in  the  preface,  "  was  written  mostly  at  the  time, 
and  finished  almost  as  soon  as  the  events  it  contains." 

Thursday,  September  13,  1759 

Before  day-break  this  morning  we  made  a  descent  upon  the 
north  shore,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  the  eastward  of  Sillery  ; 
and  the  light  troops  were  fortunately,  by  the  rapidity  of  the 
current,  carried  down  lower,  between  us  and  Cape  Diamond ; 
we  had  in  this  debarkation  thirty  flat-bottomed  boats,  containing 
about  sixteen  hundred  men.  .  .  .  The  chain  of  Gentries  [sentries] 
which  the  enemy  had  posted  along  the  summit  of  the  heights 
galled  us  a  little  and  picked  off  several  men  and  some  Officers 
before  our  light  infantry  got  up  to  dislodge  them.  This  grand 
enterprise  was  conducted  and  executed  with  great  good  order 
and  discretion ;  as  fast  as  we  landed  the  boats  put  off  for  rein 
forcements,  and  the  troops  formed  with  much  regularity :  the 
General  [Wolfe]  with  Brigadiers  Moncton  and  Murray  were 
a-shore  with  the  first  division.  We  lost  no  time  here  but  clam 
bered  up  one  of  the  steepest  precipices  that  can  be  conceived, 

1  This  letter,  called  in  the  Pennsylvania  Archives  (ii,  238)  "a  haughty 
answer,"  determined  Dinwiddie  to  raise  forces  to  send  to  the  Ohio. 
Washington  was  given  charge  of  one  of  the  companies,  with  instructions 
to  hasten  to  finish  "  the  Fort  which  I  expect  is  there  already  begun  by 
the  Ohio  Company"  (see  Journal  above,  ad  fin.}.  It  was  the  clash  of 
this  little  force  of  Washington's  with  Jumonville's  men  at  Great 
Meadow  that  opened  the  Seven  Years'  War  (see  Muzzey,  An  American 
History,  p.  83). 


The  Struggle  with  France  for  North  America      105 

being  almost  a  perpendicular  and  of  an  incredible  height.  As 
soon  as  we  gained  the  summit  all  was  quiet,  and  not  a  shot 
was  heard.  ...  It  was  by  this  time  clear  day-light.  Here  we 
formed  again,  the  river  and  the  south  country  in  our  rear,  our 
right  extending  to  the  town,  our  left  to  Sillery,  and  halted  a  few 
minutes.  .  .  .  We  then  faced  to  the  right  and  marched  towards 
the  town  by  files  till  we  came  to  the  plains  of  Abraham ;  an 
even  piece  of  ground  which  Mr.  Wolfe  had  made  choice  of 
while  we  stood  forming  upon  the  hill.  Weather  showery.  About 
six  o'clock  the  enemy  first  made  their  appearance  upon  the 
heights,  between  us  and  the  town ;  whereon  we  halted,  and 
wheeled  to  the  right,  thereby  forming  the  line  of  battle.  .  .  . 

About  ten  o'clock  the  enemy  began  to  advance  briskly  in 
three  columns,  with  loud  shouts  and  recovered  arms,  two  of 
them  inclining  to  the  left  of  our  army,  and  the  third  towards 
our  right,  fireing  obliquely  at  the  two  extremities  of  our  line  from 

the  distance  of  one  hundred  and  thirty ,  until  they  came 

within  forty  yards  ;  which  our  troops  withstood  with  the  greatest 
intrepidity  and  firmness,  still  reserving  their  fire,  and  paying 
the  strictest  obedience  to  their  Officers,  this  uncommon  steadi 
ness,  together  with  the  havoc  which  the  grapeshot  from  our 
field  pieces  made  among  them,  threw  them  into  some  disorder, 
and  was  most  critically  maintained  by  a  well-timed,  regular,  and 
heavy  discharge  of  our  small  arms,  such  as  they  could  no  longer 
oppose ;  hereupon  they  gave  way,  and  fled  with  precipitation, 
so  that  by  the  time  the  cloud  of  smoke  was  vanished,  our  men 
were  again  loaded,  and  .  .  .  pursued  them  almost  to  the  gates  of 
the  town,  and  the  bridge  over  the  little  river,  redoubling  our  fire 
with  great  eagerness,  making  many  Officers  and  men  prisoners. 
(The  weather  cleared  up  with  a  comfortably  warm  sun-shine.)  .  . . 

Our  joy  at  this  success  is  inexpressibly  damped  by  the  loss 
we  thus  sustained  of  one  of  the  greatest  heroes  which  this  or 
any  other  age  can  boast  of, —  GENERAL  JAMES  WOLFE,  who  re 
ceived  his  mortal  wound,  as  he  was  exerting  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  grenadiers  of  Louisbourg ;  and  Brigadier  Monckton  was 
unfortunately  wounded  ...  at  much  the  same  time.  .  .  . 

The  Officers  who  are  prisoners  say  that  Quebec  will  sur 
render  in  a  few  days ;  some  deserters  who  came  out  to  us  this 


1 06  The  Establishment  of  the  English 

evening  agree  in  that  opinion,  and  inform  us  that  the  Sieur  de 
Montcalm  is  dying  in  great  agony  of  a  wound  he  received  today 
in  their  retreat.  Thus  has  our  late  renowned  Commander,  by 
his  superior  eminence  in  the  art  of  war,  and  a  most  judicious 
coup  d'etat,  made  a  conquest  of  this  fertile,  healthy,  and  hitherto 
formidable  country,  with  a  handful  of  troops  only,  in  spite  of 
the  political  schemes  and  most  vigorous  efforts,  of  the  famous 
Montcalm  ...  at  the  head  of  an  army  considerably  more  nu 
merous.  My  pen  is  too  feeble  to  draw  the  character  of  this 
British  Achilles ;  but  the  same  may  with  justice  be  said  of  him 
as  was  said  of  Henry  IV  of  France.  He  was  possessed  of  courage, 
humanity,  clemency,  generosity,  affability,  and  politeness.  .  .  , 
"  When  the  matter  match 'd  his  mighty  mind 

Up  rose  the  Hero :  on  his  piercing  eye 

Sat  observation,  on  each  glance  of  thought 

Decision  followed,  as  the  thunderbolt 

Pursues  the  flash." 

The  following  letter  from  General  Monckton  acquaint 
ing  Pitt  with  the  result  of  the  battle,  and  the  Articles  of 
Capitulation  of  the  fortress  of  Quebec  are  taken  from 
"  Natural  and  Civil  History  of  the  French  Dominion  in 
America,"  by  Thos.  Jeffreys,  "  Geographer  to  the  Prince  of 
Wales."  It  was  printed  at  Charing  Cross,  London,  1760. 

LETTER  FROM  THE  HONOURABLE  GENERAL  MONCKTON 
TO  THE  RIGHT  HONOURABLE  MR.  SECRETARY  PITT, 
DATED  AT  CAMP  AT  POINT  LEVI,  SEPTEMBER  15,  1759 

SIR 

I  have  the  pleasure  to  acquaint  you,  that,  on  the  13th  instant, 
his  majesty's  troops  gained  a  very  signal  victory  over  the  French, 
a  little  above  the  town  of  Quebec.  Gen.  Wolfe,  exerting  himself 
on  the  right  of  our  line,  received  a  wound  pretty  early,  of  which 
he  died  soon  after,  and  I  had  myself  the  great  misfortune  of 
receiving  one  in  my  right  breast  by  a  ball,  that  went  through 
part  of  my  lungs  (and  which  has  been  cut  out  under  the  blade 
bone  of  my  shoulder)  just  as  the  French  were  giving  way,  which 


The  Struggle  with  France  for  North  America      107 

obliged  me  to  quit  the  field.  I  have  therefore,  Sir,  desired  Gen. 
Townshend,  who  now  commands  the  troops  before  the  town  (and 
of  which  I  am  in  hopes  he  will  be  soon  in  possession)  to  acquaint 
you  with  the  particulars  of  that  day,  and  of  the  operations 

carrying  on, 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  &c. 

Rob.  Monckton 

ARTICLES    OF    CAPITULATION    AGREED    ON    BETWEEN 
GENERAL    TOWNSHEND     AND     M.     DE     RAMZEY,     COM 
MANDER  OF  QUEBEC 

Art.  I.  ...  The  garrison  of  the  town,  composed  of  land  forces, 
marines,  and  sailors,  shall  march  out  with  their  arms  and  baggage, 
drums  beating,  lighted  matches,  with  two  pieces  of  cannon,  and 
twelve  rounds,  and  shall  be  embarked  as  conveniently  as  possible, 
in  order  to  be  landed  at  the  first  port  in  France. 

Art.  II.  That  the  inhabitants  shall  be  maintained  in  possession 
of  their  houses,  goods,  effects,  and  privileges. 

Art.  III.  That  the  said  inhabitants  shall  not  be  molested  on 
account  of  their  having  borne  arms  for  the  defence  of  the  town, 
as  they  were  forced  to  it,  and  as  it  is  customary  for  the  inhabit 
ants  of  the  colonies  of  both  crowns  to  serve  as  militia.  .  .  . 

Art  VI.  That  the  exercise  of  the  Catholic  Apostolic  and 
Roman  religion  shall  be  preserved,  and  that  safe-guards  shall  be 
granted  to  the  houses  of  the  clergy,  and  to  the  monasteries, 
particularly  to  the  Bishop  of  Quebec  .  .  .  until  the  possession  of 
Canada  shall  have  been  decided  by  a  treaty  between  their  most 
Christian  and  Britannic  Majesties. 

Art.  VII.  That  the  artillery  and  warlike  stores  shall  be  de 
livered  up  bonafide,  and  an  inventory  taken  thereof.  .  .  . 

Art.  X.  That  the  commander  of  the  city  of  Quebec  shall  be 
permitted  to  send  advice  to  the  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil,  governor 
general,  of  the  reduction  of  the  town ;  as  also  that  this  general 
shall  be  allowed  to  write  to  the  French  ministry  to  inform  them 
thereof.  .  .  . 

duplicates  signed  at  the  Camp  before  Quebec 

Sepr.  1 8,  1759 
C.  Saunders,  G.  Townshend,  De  Ramesay 


PART   II.    THE  SEPARATION   OF  THE 
COLONIES  FROM  ENGLAND 


PART    II.    THE    SEPARATION    OF 
THE  COLONIES  FROM  ENGLAND 

CHAPTER  IV 

BRITISH  RULE  IN  AMERICA 

THE  AUTHORITY  OF  PARLIAMENT  IN  THE  COLONIES 

No  other  Englishman  was  better  qualified  to  speak  on  so.  The 
American  affairs  than  Thomas  Pownall,  royal  governor  of  co?onfes°f 
the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  from  1757  to  1760.  Pow-  r91j 
nail  was  one  of  the  small  group  of  statesmen  who  realized 
the  "  nascent  crisis  "  in  the  colonies  and  advocated  con 
sulting  the  sentiments  of  the  colonists  themselves  in  deter 
mining  the  relation  of  America  to  the  home  government. 
In  1 764,  Pow  nail  dedicated  to  George  Grenville,  the  author 
of  the  Stamp  Act,  a  long  treatise  on  "  The  Administration 
of  the  Colonies,"  prompted,  as  he  says  in  the  preface,  by 
"  a  spirit  of  suspicion  and  alarm  arising,  a  temper  of  ill- 
blood  infusing  itself  into  the  minds  of  men."  Twenty  years 
later,  when  the  independence  of  America  was  acknowl 
edged  by  George  III,  Pownall  wrote :  "  The  publication  of 
this  treatise  ruined  me  with  those  who  had  the  real  power 
of  Government  in  their  hands.  I  was  not  ignorant  that  it 
would  have  such  effect.  I  sacrificed  to  what  I  thought 
truth  and  right,  and  I  thank  God  that  I  have  never  yet 
once,  to  this  hour,  repented  that  I  made  that  sacrifice. 
Perhaps  they  have  more  than  once  repented  that  they  did 
not  follow  this  advice."  l 

1  Thomas  Pownall,  Three  Memorials,  1784,  General  Preface,  p.  ix. 

in 


112      The  Separation  of  tJic  Colonies  from  England 

This  American  question,  in  which  liberty  and  the  rights  of 
property  are  so  deeply  engaged,  must  now  come  forward  ...  I 
therefore  address  to  your  most  serious  consideration  that  state 
of  this  business  which  the  following  book  contains  ...  I  speak 
my  own  sentiments.  I  address  them  to  your  serious  considera 
tion,  as  I  do  to  every  man  of  business  in  the  nation,  with  an 
hope  that  from  conviction  of  the  justice,  policy,  and  necessity 
of  the  measure,  they  may  become  the  general  sentiments  of  the 
government,  and  of  the  people  of  Great  Britain.  ...  I  am  no 
Partizan.  I  do  not  palliate  the  errors  of  Great  Britain.  I  do  not 
flatter  the  passions  of  America.  ...  I  have  stated  the  fact,  and 
the  right,  in  hopes  to  point  out  what  is  the  true  and  constitu 
tional  relation  between  Great  Britain  and  the  American  Colonies, 
what  is  the  precise  ground  on  which  this  dangerous  question 
ought  to  be  settled :  How  far  they  are  to  be  governed  by  the 
vigor  of  external  principles,  by  the  supreme  superintending 
power  of  the  mother  country :  How  far  by  the  vigor  of  the 
internal  principle  of  their  own  peculiar  body  politic :  And  what 
ought  to  be  the  mode  of  administration  by  which  they  are  to  be 
governed  in  their  legislative,  executive,  judicial,  and  commercial 
departments,  in  the  conduct  of  their  money  and  revenues,  in 
their  power  of  making  peace  or  war  — 

It  has  been  often  suggested  that  care  should  be  taken  in  the 
administration  of  the  plantations  ;  lest  in  some  future  time  these 
colonies  should  become  independent  of  the  mother  country.  But 
perhaps  it  may  be  proper  on  this  occasion,  nay,  it  is  justice 
to  say  it,  that  if  by  becoming  independent,  is  meant  a  revolt, 
nothing  is  further  from  their  nature,  their  interest,  their  thoughts. 
.  .  .  Their  spirit  abhors  the  sense  of  such ;  their  attachment  to 
the  protestant  succession  in  the  house  of  Hanover  will  ever 
stand  unshaken ;  and  nothing  can  eradicate  from  their  hearts 
their  natural,  almost  mechanical  affection  to  Great  Britain,  which 
they  conceive  under  no  other  sense,  nor  call  by  any  other  name, 
than  that  of  home.  Besides,  the  merchants  are,  and  ever  must 
be,  in  great  measure  allied  with  those  of  Great  Britain;  their 
very  support  consists  in  this  alliance,  and  nothing  but  false 
policy  here  can  break  it.  ...  Yet  again,  on  the  other  hand, 


British  Rule  in  America  113 

while  [the  colonies]  remain  under  the  support  and  protection  of 
the  government  of  the  mother  country ;  while  they  profit  of  the 
beneficial  part  of  its  trade  ;  while  their  attachment  to  the  present 
royal  family  stands  firm,  and  their  alliance  with  the  mother 
country  is  inviolate,  it  may  be  worth  while  to  inquire,  whether 
they  may  not  become  and  act  in  some  cases  independent  of  the 
government  and  laws  of  the  mother  country.  .  .  .  And  if  any 
measure  of  such  independency  .  .  .  should  be  insisted  on  — 
perhaps  it  may  be  thought,  that  no  time  should  be  lost  to 
remedy  or  redress  these  deviations  ...  or  to  remove  all  jeal 
ousies  arising  from  the  idea  of  them,  if  none  such  really  exist. 

But  the  true  and  effectual  way  to  remove  all  jealousies  and 
interfering  between  the  several  powers  of  the  government  of 
the  mother  country,  and  the  several  powers  of  the  governments 
of  the  colonies,  in  the  due  and  constitutional  order  of  their  sub 
ordination,  is  to  inquire  and  examine  what  the  colonies  and 
provinces  really  are ;  what  their  constitution  of  government 
is ;  what  the  relation  between  them  and  the  mother  country ; 
and  in  consequence  of  the  truth  and  principles  established  on 
such  examination  —  to  maintain  firmly  both  in  claim  and  exer 
cise,  the  rights  and  powers  of  the  supreme  government  of  the 
mother  country,  with  all  acknowledgment  of  the  rights,  liberties, 
privileges,  immunities,  and  franchises  of  the  Colonists,  both  per 
sonal  and  political,  treating  them  really  as  what  they  are.  Until 
this  be  done  there  can  be  no  government  properly  so  called ;  the 
various  opinions,  connections  and  interests  of  Britains  [Britons], 
both  in  this  island,  and  in  America,  will  divide  them  into  parties 
—  the  spirit  of  mutual  animosity  and  opposition  will  take  ad 
vantage  of  the  total  want  of  established  and  fixed  principles  on 
this  subject,  to  work  these  parties  into  faction;  and  then  the 
predominancy  of  one  faction,  or  the  other,  acting  under  the 
mask  of  the  forms  of  government,  will  alternately  be  called 
government.  .  .  . 

It  is  a  duty  of  perfect  obligation  from  government  toward 
the  colonies,  to  preserve  the  liberty  of  the  subject,  the  liberty  of 
the  constitution  :  It  is  a  duty  also  of  prudence  in  government 
toward  itself,  as  such  conduct  is  the  only  permanent  and  sure 


114      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  from  England 

ground,  whereon  to  maintain  the  dependance  of  those  countries, 
without  destroying  their  utility  as  colonies. 

The  constitutions  of  these  communities,  founded  in  wise 
policy,  and  in  the  laws  of  the  British  constitution,  are  estab 
lished  by  their  several  charters,  or  by  the  King's  commission 
to  his  governors.  ...  It  [the  commission]  becomes  the  known, 
established  constitution  of  that  province  which  hath  been  estab 
lished  on  it,  and  whose  laws,  courts  and  whole  frame  of  legis 
lature  and  judicature,  are  founded  on  it.  It  is  the  charter  of 
that  province ;  It  is  the  indefeasible  and  unalterable  right  of 
those  people ;  ...  It  cannot,  in  its  essential  parts,  be  altered 
or  destroyed  by  any  royal  instructions  or  proclamation ;  or  by 
letters  from  secretaries  of  state :  It  cannot  be  superseded,  or 
in  part  annulled,  by  the  issuing  out  of  any  other  commissions 
not  known  to  this  constitution. 

Somewhat  more  foreboding  for  the  colonies  was  the 
language  of  another  royal  governor  of  Massachusetts, 
Thomas  Hutchinson,  who  remained  on  the  field  of  dis 
pute  longer  than  Pownall,  and  was  himself  the  victim,  in 
the  destruction  of  his  furniture  and  library,  of  the  riots 
attending  the  attempts  to  enforce  the  Stamp  Act.  In 
letters  written  to  England  in  1768  and  1769,  at  the 
height  of  the  agitation  over  the  Townshend  Acts,  the 
Circular  Letter  of  Massachusetts,  and  the  landing  of 
the  king's  troops  at  Boston,  Hutchinson  says  ; 

August  10  [1768].  Yesterday  at  a  meeting  of  the  merchants 
it  was  agreed  by  all  present  to  give  no  more  orders  for  goods 
from  England,  nor  receive  any  on  commission  until  the  late  acts 
are  repealed.  And  it  is  said  that  all  except  sixteen  in  the  town 
have  subscribed  an  engagement  of  that  tenor. 

October  4  [1768].  .  .  .  Principles  of  government  absurd 
enough  spread  thro'  all  the  colonies ;  but  I  cannot  think  that 
in  any  colony,  people  of  any  consideration  have  ever  been 
so  mad  as  to  think  of  a  revolt.  Many  of  the  common  people 
have  been  in  a  frenzy,  and  talked  of  dying  in  defence  of  their 


British  Rule  in  America  1 1 5 

liberties,  and  have  spoke  and  printed  what  is  highly  criminal, 
and  too  many  of  rank  above  the  vulgar,  and  some  in  public 
posts  have  countenanced  and  encouraged  them  untill  they  in 
creased  so  much  in  their  numbers  and  in  their  opinion  of 
their  importance  as  to  submit  to  government  no  more  than 
they  thought  proper. 

January  20  [1769].  .  .  .  This  is  most  certainly  a  crisis.  I 
really  wish  that  there  may  not  have  been  the  least  degree  of 
severity  beyond  what  is  absolutely  necessary  to  maintain  .  .  . 
the  dependance  which  a  colony  ought  to  have  upon  the  parent 
state ;  but  if  no  measures  shall  have  been  taken  to  secure  this 
dependance,  or  nothing  more  than  some  declaratory  acts  or 
resolves,  it  is  all  over  with  us.  The  friends  of  government  will 
be  utterly  disheartened,  and  the  friends  of  anarchy  will  be  afraid 
of  nothing  be  it  ever  so  extravagant.  .  .  . 

I  never  think  of  the  measures  necessary  for  the  peace  and 
good  order  of  the  colonies  without  pain.  There  must  be  an 
abridgment  of  what  are  called  English  liberties.  I  relieve  my 
self  by  considering  that  in  a  remove  from  the  state  of  nature  to 
the  most  perfect  state  of  government  there  must  be  a  great  re 
straint  of  natural  liberty.  I  doubt  whether  it  is  possible  to  project 
a  system  of  government  in  which  a  colony  3000  miles  distant 
from  the  parent  state  shall  enjoy  all  the  liberty  of  the  parent 
state.  I  am  certain  I  have  never  yet  seen  the  projection.  I  wish 
the  good  of  the  colony  when  I  wish  to  see  some  further  restraint 
of  liberty  rather  than  the  connexion  with  the  parent  state  should 
be  broken;  for  I  am  sure  such  a  breach  must  prove  the  ruin 
of  the  colony. 

We  may  add  to  these  opinions  of  the  royal  governors  a 
brief  extract  from  an  address  of  a  popularly  elected  gov 
ernor,  Stephen  Hopkins  of  Rhode  Island,  entitled  "  The 
Rights  of  Colonies  Examined"  (1764).  Hopkins,  who 
later  was  an  influential  member  of  the  Continental  Con 
gress  and  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
was  an  ardent  advocate  of  American  equality  with  Great 
Britain.  After  showing  how  "  colonies  in  general,  both 


1 1 6      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  from  England 

ancient  and  modern,  have  always  enjoyed  as  much  freedom 
as  the  mother  state  from  which  they  went  out,"  Hopkins 
continues  : 

From  what  hath  been  shown,  it  will  appear  beyond  a  doubt, 
'that  the  British  subjects  in  America,  have  equal  rights  with  those 
in  Britain;  that  they  do  not  hold  those  rights  as  a  privilege 
granted  them,  nor  enjoy  them  as  a  grace  and  favor  bestowed ; 
but  possess  them  as  an  inherent  indefeasible  right ;  as  they,  and 
their  ancestors,  were  free-born  subjects,  justly  and  naturally  en 
titled  to  all  the  rights  and  advantages  of  the  British  constitution7\ 

And  the  British  legislative  and  executive  powers  have  con 
sidered  the  colonies  as  possessed  of  these  rights,  and  have  al 
ways  heretofore,  in  the  most  tender  and  parental  manner,  treated 
them  as  their  dependent,  though  free,  condition  required.  The 
protection  promised  on  the  part  of  the  crown,  with  cheerfulness 
and  great  gratitude  we  acknowledge,  hath  at  all  times  been  given 
to  the  colonies.  The  dependence  of  the  colonies  to  [on]  Great 
Britain,  hath  been  fully  testified  by  a  constant  and  ready  obedi 
ence  to  all  the  commands  of  His  present  Majesty,  and  his  royal 
predecessors  ;  both  men  and  money  having  been  raised  in  them 
at  all  times  when  called  for,  with  as  much  alacrity  and  in  as 
large  proportions  as  hath  been  done  in  Great  Britain,  the  ability 
of  each  considered. 

It  must  also  be  confessed  with  thankfulness,  that  the  first 
adventurers  and  their  successors,  for  one  hundred  and  thirty 
years,  have  fully  enjoyed  all  the  freedoms  and  immunities 
promised  on  their  first  removal  from  England.  .But  here  the 
scene  seems  to  be  unhappily  changing. 

The  British  ministry,  whether  induced  by  a  jealousy  of  the 
colonies,  by  false  informations,  or  by  some  alteration  in  the  sys 
tem  of  political  government,  we  have  no  information ;  whatever 
hath  been  the  motive,  this  we  are  sure  of,  the  Parliament  in  their 
last  session,  passed  an  act,  limiting,  restricting,  and  burdening 
the  trade  of  these  colonies,  much  more  than  had  ever  been  done 
before ;  as  also  for  greatly  enlarging  the  power  and  jurisdic 
tion  of  the  courts  of  admiralty  in  the  colonies ;  and  also  came 
to  a  resolution,  that  it  might  be  necessary  to  establish  stamp 


British  Rule  in  America  117 

duties,  and  other  internal  taxes,  to  be  collected  within  them.1 
This  act  and  this  resolution,  have  caused  great  uneasiness  and 
consternation  among  the  British  subjects  on  the  continent  of 
America.  .  .  . 

These  resolutions,  carried  into  execution,  the  colonies  cannot 
but  help  consider  as  a  manifest  violation  of  their  just  and  long 
enjoyed  rights.  For  it  must  be  confessed  by  all  men,  that  they 
who  are  taxed  at  pleasure  by  others,  cannot  possibly  have  any 
property,  can  have  nothing  to  be  called  their  own.  They  who 
have  no  property,  can  have  no  freedom,  but  are  indeed  reduced 
to  the  most  abject  slavery.  .  .  . 

If  we  are  told  that  those  who  lay  these  taxes  upon  the  colo 
nies,  are  men  of  the  highest  character  for  their  wisdom,  justice, 
and  integrity,  and  therefore  cannot  be  supposed  to  deal  hardly, 
unjustly  or  unequally  by  any  ...  it  will  make  no  alteration  in 
the  nature  of  the  case  ;  for  one  who  is  bound  to  obey  the  will 
of  another,  is  as  really  a  slave,  though  he  may  have  a  good 
master,  as  if  he  had  a  bad  one.  .  .  .  And  although  they  may 
have  a  very  good  master  at  one  time,  they  may  have  a  very  bad 
one  at  another.  And,  indeed,  if  the  people  in  America  are  to  be 
taxed  by  the  representatives  of  the  people  in  Britain,  their 
malady  is  an  increasing  evil,  that  must  always  grow  greater 
by  time.  .  .  . 

But  it  will  be  said,  that  the  monies  drawn  from  the  colonies 
by  duties,  and  by  taxes,  will  be  laid  up  and  set  apart  to  be  used 
for  their  future  defence.  This  will  not  at  all  alleviate  the  hard 
ship,  but  serves  only  more  strongly  to  mark  the  servile  state  of 
the  people.  Free  people  have  ever  thought,  and  always  will 
think,  that  the  money  necessary  for  their  defence,  lies  safest  in 
their  own  hands.  .  .  . 

We  are  not  insensible,  that  when  liberty  is  in  danger,  the 
liberty  of  complaining  is  dangerous  ;  yet  a  man  on  a  wreck  was 
never  denied  the  liberty  of  roaring  as  loud  as  he  could,  says 
Dean  Swift.  And  we  believe  no  good  reason  can  be  given,  why 
the  colonies  should  not  modestly  and  soberly  inquire,  what  right 
the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  have  to  tax  them. 


1  These  acts  are  published  in  Macdonald,  Select  Charters  .  .  .  1606- 
T775>  PP-  272-305. 


Ii8      The  Separation  of 'the  Colonies  from.  England 

TAXATION  WITHOUT  REPRESENTATION 

Thirteen  years  after  the  passage  of  the  Stamp  Act, 
Benjamin  Franklin,  Commissioner  of  the  United  States 
at  Paris,  wrote  the  following  letter  to  a  friend,  to  clear 
I95]  away  any  misapprehension  as  to  Grenville's  motive  in  the 
proposal  of  that  momentous  measure „  The  letter  was 
written  about  a  month  after  Franklin,  with  his  associates 
Silas  Deane  and  Arthur  Lee,  had  brought  to  a  successful 
close  his  negotiations  for  a  treaty  of  alliance  between 
France  and  the  United  States. 

Passy,  March  12,  1778 
Dear  Sir :  — 

In  the  pamphlets  you  were  so  kind  as  to  lend  me,  there  is 
one  important  fact  misstated,  apparently  from  the  writer's  not 
having  been  furnished  with  good  information.  It  is  the  transac 
tion  between  Mr.  Grenville  and  the  colonies,  wherein  he  under 
stands  that  Mr.  Grenville  demanded  of  them  a  spe'cific  sum,  that 
they  refused  to  grant  anything,  and  that  it  was  on  their  refusal 
only  that  he  made  the  motion  for  the  Stamp  Act.  No  one  of 
these  particulars  was  true.  The  fact  was  this : 

Some  time  in  the  winter  of  1763-4  Mr.  Grenville  called  to 
gether  the  agents  of  the  several  colonies,  and  told  them  that  he 
purposed  to  draw  a  revenue  from  America ;  and  to  that  end 
his  intention  was. to  levy  a  stamp  duty  on  the  colonies  by  act  of 
Parliament  in  the  ensuing  session,  of  which  he  thought  it  fit 
that  they  should  be  immediately  acquainted,  that  they  might 
have  time  to  consider ;  and  if  any  other  duty  equally  productive 
would  be  more  agreeable  to  them,  they  might  let  him  know  it. 
The  agents  were  therefore  directed  to  write  this  to  their  re 
spective  Assemblies,  and  communicate  to  him  the  answers  they 
should  receive ;  the  agents  wrote  accordingly. 

I  was  a  member  in  the  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  when  this 
notification  came  to  hand.  The  observations  there  made  upon 
it  were,  that  the  ancient,  established,  and  regular  method  of 
drawing  aid  from  the  colonies  was  this:  The  occasion  was 


British  Rule  in  America  1 19 

always  first  considered  by  their  sovereign  in  his  Privy  Council, 
by  whose  sage  advice  he  directed  his  Secretary  of  State  to  write 
circular-letters  to  the  several  governors,  who  were  directed  to  lay 
them  before  their  Assemblies.  In  those  letters  the  occasion  was 
explained  to  their  satisfaction,  with  gracious  expressions  of  his 
Majesty's  confidence  in  their  known  duty  and  affection,  on  which 
he  relied  that  they  would  grant  such  sums  as  should  be  suitable 
to  their  abilities,  loyalty,  and  zeal  for  his  service ;  that  the  colo 
nies  had  always  granted  liberally  on  such  requisitions,  and  so 
liberally  during  the  late  war,  that  the  king,  sensible  they  had 
granted  much  more  than  their  proportion  had  reqpmmended  it  to 
Parliament  five  years  successively  to  make  them  some  compensa 
tion,  and  the  Parliament  accordingly  returned  them  ^200,000  a 
year,  to  be  divided  among  them ;  that  the  proposition  of  taxing 
them  in  Parliament,  was  therefore  both  cruel  and  unjust ;  that, 
by  the  constitution  of  the  colonies,  their  business  was  with  the 
king  in  matters  of  aid ;  they  had  nothing  to  do  with  any  finan 
cier,  nor  he  with  them ;  nor  were  the  agents  the  proper  channels 
through  which  the  requisitions  should  be  made ;  it  was  therefore 
improper  for  them  to  enter  into  any  stipulation,  or  make  any 
proposition  to  Mr.  Grenville  about  laying  taxes  on  their  constitu 
ents  by  Parliament,  which  had  really  no  right  at  all  to  tax  them, 
especially  as  the  notice  he  had  sent  them  did  not  appear  to  be 
by  the  king's  order,  and  perhaps  was  without  his  knowledge,  as 
the  king,  when  he  would  obtain  anything  from  them,  always 
accompanied  his  requisition  with  good  words,  but  this  gentle 
man,  instead  of  a  decent  demand,  sent  them  a  menace,  that  they 
should  certainly  be  taxed,  and  only  left  them  the  choice  ^of  the 
manner.  But  all  this  notwithstanding,  they  were  so  far  from 
refusing  to  grant  money  that  they  resolved  to  the  following 
purpose :  "  That  they  always  had,  so  they  always  should  think 
it  their  duty  to  grant  aid  to  the  crown,  according  to  their  abili 
ties,  whenever  required  of  them  in  the  usual  constitutional 
manner."  I  went  soon  after  to  England  and  took  with  me  an 
authentic  copy  of  this  resolution,  which  I  presented  to  Mr.  Gren 
ville  before  he  brought  in  the  Stamp  Act.  I  asserted  in  the 
House  of  Commons  (Mr.  Grenville  being  present)  that  I  had 
done  so,  and  he*  did  not  deny  it.  Other  colonies  made  similar 


I2O      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  from  England 

resolutions,  and  had  Mr.  Grenville,  instead  of  that  act,  applied 
to  the  king  in  council  for  such  requisitional  letters  to  be  circu 
lated  by  the  Secretary  of  State,  I  am  sure  he  would  have  ob 
tained  more  money  from  the  colonies  by  their  voluntary  grants 
than  he  himself  expected  from  the  stamps.  But  he  chose  com 
pulsion  rather  than  persuasion,  and  would  not  receive  from  their 
good  will  what  he  thought  he  could  obtain  without  it.  And  thus 
the  golden  bridge  which  the  ingenious  author  [of  the  pamphlet 
which  Franklin  is  criticising]  thinks  the  Americans  unwisely  and 
unbecomingly  refused  to  hold  out  to  the  minister  and  Parlia 
ment,  was  actually  held  out  to  them,  but  they  refused  to  walk 
over  it. 

This  is  the  true  history  of  that  transaction :  and  as  it  is 
probable  there  may  be  another  edition  of  that  excellent  pamphlet, 
I  wish  this  may  be  communicated  to  the  candid  author,  who,  I 
doubt  not,  will  correct  that  error. 

I  am  ever,  with  sincere  esteem,  dear  sir,  your  most  obedient, 

humble  servant, 

B.  Franklin 

32.  The  Cir-       The'repcal  of  the  Stamp  Act  in  1766  was  accompanied 
of  Massachu-  ^Y  a  Declaratory  Act,  asserting  the  right  of  the  British 

setts  Bay,      Parliament  "  to  bind  the  colonies  and  people  of  America, 

1768 

subjects  of  the  crown  of  Great  Britain,  in  all  cases  what 
soever."  "This,"  said  John  Dickinson,  "  was  only  planting 
a  barren  tree  that  cast  a  shade  indeed  over  the  Colonies, 
but  yielded  no  fruit."  The  tree,  however,  bore  bitter  fruit 
the  next  year  in  the  Townshend  Acts.  Protests  against 
the  renewed  determination  of  the  British  Parliament  to 
tax  the  colonies  without  their  consent  arose  on  every  hand. 
The  most  significant  answer  to  the  acts  was  the  appoint 
ment,  February  4,  1768,  of  a  committee  of  seven  by  the 
Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives  "  to  write  to  the 
speakers  of  the  other  assemblies  with  reference  to  their 
joining  in  a  petition  to  the  King."  Samuel  Adams,  chair 
man  of  the  committee,  drew  up  the  following  letter : 


British  Rzde  in  America  1 2 1 

Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay 
SIR:  FA  it,  1768 

The  House  of  Representatives  of  this  Province  have  taken 
into  their  serious  Consideration,  the  great  difficultys  that  must 
accrue  to  themselves  &  their  Constituents  by  the  operation  of 
several  acts  of  Parliament  imposing  Duties  and  Taxes  on  the 
American  Colonys. 

As  it  is  a  Subject  in  which  every  Colony  is  deeply  interested 
they  have  no  reason  to  doubt  but  your  Assembly  is  deeply  im 
pressed  with  its  Importance  &  that  such  constitutional  measures 
will  be  come  into  as  are  proper.  It  seems  to  be  necessary,  that 
all  possible  Care  should  be  taken,  that  the  Representations  of 
the  several  Assembly  upon  so  delicate  a  point,  should  harmonize 
with  each  other :  the  House  therefore  hope  that  this  letter  will 
be  candidly  considered  in  no  other  Light  than  as  expressing  a 
Disposition  freely  to  communicate  their  mind  to  a  Sister  Colony, 
upon  a  common  Concern,  in  the  same  manner  as  they  would 
be  glad  to  receive  the  Sentiments  of  your  or  any  other  House 
of  Assembly  on  the  Continent. 

The  House  have  humbly  represented  to  the  ministry,1  their 
own  Sentiments  that  His  Majestys  high  Court  of  Parliament  is 
the  supreme  legislative  Power  over  the  whole  Empire ;  That  in 
all  free  States  the  Constitution  is  fixd  ;  &  as  the  supreme  Legis 
lative  derives  its  Power  and  Authority  from  the  Constitution, 
it  cannot  overleap  the  Bounds  of  it  without  destroying  its  own 
foundation;  That  the  Constitution  ascertains  &  limits  both  Sover 
eignty  &  allegiance,  &  therefore  His  Majestys  American  Subjects 
who  acknowledge  themselves  bound  by  the  Ties  of  Allegiance, 
have  an  equitable  Claim  to  the  full  enjoym1  of  the  fundamental 
Rules  of  the  British  Constitution :  That  it  is  an  essential  unal 
terable  Right  in  nature,  ingrafted  into  the  British  Constitution, 
as  a  fundamental  Law  &  ever  held  sacred  &  irrevocable  by 
the  Subjects  within  the  Realm,  that  what  a  man  has  honestly 

1  Letters  had  been  addressed,  chiefly  by  Adams,  to  Lord  Shelburne, 
January  15;  to  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham,  January  22;  to  the  Lord 
Chancellor  Camden,  January  29;  to  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham,  February  2; 
and  a  petition  had  been  sent  to  the  King,  January  20,  1768. 


122      TJie  Separation  of  the  Colonies  front  England 

acquired  is  absolutely  his  own,  which  he  may  freely  give, 
but  cannot  be  taken  from  him  without  his  consent:  That  the 
American  Subjects  may  therefore  exclusive  of  any  Consider 
ation  of  Charter  Rights,  with  a  decent  firmness  adapted  to  the 
Character  of  free  men  &  Subjects  assert  this  natural  and  con 
stitutional  Right. 

It  is  moreover  their  humble  opinion,  which  they  express  with 
the  greatest  Deferrence  to  the  Wisdom  of  the  Parliament  that 
the  Acts  made  there  imposing  Duties  on  the  People  of  this 
province  with  the  sole  &  express  purpose  of  raising  a  Revenue, 
are  Infringements  of  their  natural  &  constitutional  Rights,  be 
cause  as  they  are  not  represented  in  the  British  Parliam*  His 
Majestys  Commons  in  Britain  by  those  Acts  grant  their  Property 
without  their  consent. 

This  House  further  are  of  Opinion  that  their  Constituents 
considering  their  local  Circumstances  cannot  by  any  possibility 
be  represented  in  the  Parliament,  &  that  it  will  forever  be 
impracticable  that  they  should  be  equally  represented  there  & 
consequently  not  at  all;  being  separated  by  an  Ocean  of  a 
thousand  leagues ;  and  that  His  Majestys  Royal  Predecessors 
for  this  reason  were  graciously  pleased  to  form  a  subordinate 
legislature  here  that  their  Subjects  might  enjoy  the  unalienable 
Right  of  a  Representation.  .  .  . 

Upon  these  principles  . .  .  this  House  have  preferred  a  humble 
dutifull  &  loyal  Petition  to  our  most  gracious  Sovereign,  &  made 
such  Representation  to  his  Majestys  Ministers,  as  they  appre 
hended  wd  tend  to  obtain  redress. 

They  have  also  submitted  to  Consideration  whether  any 
People  can  be  said  to  enjoy  any  degree  of  Freedom  if  the 
Crown,  in  addition  to  its  undoubted  Authority  of  constituting 
a  Govr,  should  also  appoint  him  such  a  Stipend  as  it  may  judge 
proper  without  the  Consent  of  the  people  &  at  their  Expence. .  . . 

These  are  the  Sentiments  &  proceedings  of  this  House ;  & 
as  they  have  too  much  reason  to  believe  that  the  Enemys  of 
the  Colonys  have  represented  them  to  His  Majestys  Ministers 
&  the  parl1  as  factions  disloyal  &  having  a  disposition  to  make 
themselves  independent  of  the  Mother  Country,  they  have  taken 
occasion  in  the  most  humble  terms  to  assure  His  Majesty  &  his 


British  Ride  in  America  123 

ministers  that  with  regard  to  the  People  of  this  province  &  as 
they  doubt  not  of  all  the  colonies  the  charge  is  unjust. 

The  House  is  fully  satisfyd  that  your  Assembly  is  too  gen 
erous  and  enlarged  in  sentiment,  to  believe,  that  this  Letter 
proceeds  from  an  Ambition  of  taking  the  Lead  or  dictating  to 
the  other  Assemblys :  They  freely  submit  their  opinions  to  the 
Judgment  of  others,  &  shall  take  it  kind  in  your  house  to  point 
out  to  them  anything  further  which  may  be  thought  necessary. 

This  House  cannot  conclude  without  expressing  their  firm 
Confidence  in  the  King  our  common  head  &  Father,  that  the 
united  &  dutifull  Supplications  of  his  distressed  American  Sub 
jects  will  meet  with  his  royal  &  favorable  Acceptance. 

The  response  of  the  other  colonies  to  the  Massachusetts 
letter  was  prompt  and  cordial.  The  Virginia  burgesses 
replied  May  9,  applauding  the  representatives  of  Massa 
chusetts  "for  their  attention  to  American  liberty."  On 
the  same  date  the  representatives  of  New  Jersey  ac 
knowledged  themselves  "obliged"  to  Massachusetts  and 
expressed  themselves  as  "desirous  to  keep  up  a  corre 
spondence  "  on  the  subject.  Connecticut,  in  replying  on 
June  1 1,  declared  that  "  no  constitutional  measures  proper 
for  obtaining  relief  ought  to  be  neglected  by  any,"  and 
that  it  was  "  important  that  their  measures  for  that  end 
should  harmonize  with  each  other,  as  their  success  may 
in  great  degree  depend  on  their  union  in  sentiment  and 
practice,  on  this  critical  and  interesting  occasion."1  In 
addition  to  the  colonies  mentioned,  New  Hampshire, 
Georgia,  South  Carolina,  Rhode  Island,  and  Maryland 
replied  —  eight  colonies  out  of  twelve.  Lord  Hillsborough, 
who  in  January  1768  had  been  appointed  to  the  newly 
created  office  of  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies,  and 

1  The  replies  of  the  various  assemblies  may  be  found  in  John  Almon, 
Prior  Documents,  London,  1777,  pp.  213-219. 


124      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  from  England 

whose  character  Franklin  summed  up  as  "  conceit,  wrong- 
headedness,  obstinacy,  and  passion,"  wrote  Governor  Ber 
nard  the  following  instructions  relative  to  the  letter -sent 
out  by  the  Massachusetts  legislature  : 

Whitehall,  April  22d,  1768 

It  gives  great  concern  to  his  Majesty  to  find  that  the  same 
moderation  which  appeared  by  your  letter  to  have  been  adopted 
at  the  beginning  of  the  session  in  a  full  assembly,  had  not  con 
tinued,  and  that,  instead  of  that  spirit  of  prudence  and  respect 
to  the  constitution,  which  seemed  at  that  time  to  influence  the 
conduct  of  a  large  majority  of  the  members,  a  thin  house  at 
the  end  of  the  session  should  have  presumed  to  revert  to,  and 
resolve  upon  a  measure  of  so  inflammatory  a  nature  as  that  of 
writing  to  the  other  colonies  on  the  subject  of  their  intended 
representations  against  some  late  acts  of  parliament. 

His  Majesty  considers  this  step  as  evidently  tending  to  create 
unwarrantable  combinations,  to  excite  an  unjustifiable  opposition, 
to  'the  constitutional  authority  of  Parliament,  and  to  revive  those 
unhappy  divisions  and  distractions  which  have  operated  so  preju 
dicially  to  the  true  interests  of  Great  Britain  and  the  colonies. 

After  what  passed  in  the  former  part  of  the  session  ...  his 
Majesty  cannot  but  consider  this  as  a  very  unfair  proceeding, 
and  the  resolutions  taken  thereupon  to  be  contrary  to  the  real 
sense  of  the  assembly,  and  procured  by  surprize  :  and  therefore 
it  is  the  King's  pleasure  that  so  soon  as  the  General  Court  is 
again  assembled  at  the  time  prescribed  by  the  charter,  you  should 
require  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  his  Majesty's  name, 
to  rescind  the  resolution  which  gave  birth  to  the  circular  letter 
from  the  Speaker,  and  to  declare  their  disapprobation  of,  and 
their  dissent  to  that  rash  and  hasty  proceeding. 

His  Majesty  has  the  fullest  reliance  upon  the  affection  of  his 
good  subjects  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  has  observed,  with 
satisfaction,  that  spirit  of  decency,  and  love  of  order,  which  has 
discovered  itself  in  the  conduct  of  the  most  considerable  of  its 
inhabitants ;  and  therefore  his  Majesty  has  the  better  ground 
to  hope,  that  the  attempts  made  by  a  desperate  faction  to  disturb 


British  Ride  in  America  125 

the  public  tranquillity,  will  be  discountenanced,  and  that  the 
execution  of  the  measure  recommended  to  you  will  not  meet 
with  any  difficulty. 

If  it  should,  and  if,  notwithstanding  the  apprehensions  which 
may  justly  be  entertained  of  the  ill  consequence  of  the  continu 
ance  of  this  factious  spirit,  which  seems  to  have  influenced  the 
resolutions  of  the  assembly  at  the  conclusion  of  the  last  session, 
the  new  assembly  should  refuse  to  comply  with  his  Majesty's 
reasonable  expectation,  it  is  the  King's  pleasure  that  you  should 
immediately  dissolve  them,  and  transmit  to  me,  to  be  laid  before 
his  Majesty,  an  account  of  their  proceedings  thereupon,  to  the 
end  that  his  Majesty  may,  if  he  thinks  fit,  lay  the  whole  matter 
before  his  Parliament,  that  such  provisions  as  shall  be  found 
necessary  may  be  made,  to  prevent  for  the  future  a  conduct  of 
extraordinary  and  unconstitutional  a  nature. 

As  it  is  not  his  Majesty's  intention  that  a  faithful  discharge 
of  your  duty  should  operate  to  your  own  prejudice,  or  to  the 
discontinuance  of  any  necessary  establishments,  proper  care  will 
be  taken  for  the  support  of  the  dignity  of  government. 

I  am,  with  great  truth  and  regard, 

Sir,  your  most  obedient 

humble  servant 
Hillsborough 

Among  the  more  moderate  American  patriots,  who  33.  The 
wanted  reform  of  abuses  but  abhorred  the  thought  of  sepa- 
ration  from  England,  none  was  more  influential  with  the  r103] 
pen  than  John  Dickinson,1  a  prominent  lawyer  of  Pennsyl 
vania  and  Delaware.  In  his  "  Letters  from  a  Farmer  in 

1  Dickinson  earned  the  title  of  "  the  Penman  of  the  Revolution."  He 
wrote  the  Declaration  of  Rights  (the  protest  of  the  Stamp  Act  Con 
gress,  1765),  the  Petition  of  the  First  Continental  Congress  to  the  King 
(1774),  the  Address  of  the  same  Congress  to  the  Inhabitants  of  Quebec 
(1774),  most  of  the  Declaration  on  the  Colonists  taking  Arms,  and  the 
Final  Petition  to  the  King  (1775).  He  also  drafted  the  Articles  of 
Confederation,  which  were  the  first  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
(1781-1789).  Dickinson  lost  his  seat  in  the  Continental  Congress,  and 
much  of  his  popularity,  by  voting  against  independence  in  1776. 


126      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  from  England 

Pennsylvania  to  the  Inhabitants  of  the  British  Colonies," 
(1768)  he  protested  hotly  against  the  Townshend  Acts. 
The  ninth  letter  reads  in  part : 

My  dear  Countrymen 

I  have  made  some  observations  on  the  purposes  for  which 
money  is  to  be  levied  upon  us  by  the  late  act  of  parliament. 
I  shall  now  offer  to  your  consideration  some  further  reflec 
tions  on  that  subject :  And,  unless  I  am  greatly  mistaken, 
if  these  purposes  are  accomplished  according  to  the  expressed 
intention  of  the  act,  they  will  be  found  effectually  to  super 
sede  that  authority  in  our  respective  assemblies,  which  is  es 
sential  to  liberty.  The  question  is  not  whether  some  branches 
be  lopt  off  —  The  axe  is  laid  to  the  root  of  the  tree ;  and  the 
whole  body  must  infallibly  perish,  if  we  remain  idle  spectators 
of  the  work. 

No  free  people  ever  existed,  or  ever  can  exist,  without  keeping, 
to  use  a  common  but  strong  expression,  "  the  purse  strings  "  in 
their  own  hands.  Where  this  is  the  case,  they  have  a  constitu 
tional  check  upon  the  administration,  which  may  thereby  be 
brought  into  order  without  violence :  But  where  such  power  is 
not  lodged  in  the  people,  oppression  proceeds  uncontrouled  in 
its  career,  till  the  governed,  transported  into  rage,  seek  redress 
in  the  midst  of  blood  and  confusion.  .  .  . 

If  money  be  raised  upon  us  by  others,  without  our  consent, 
for  our  "  defence,"  those  who  are  the  judges  in  levying  it  must 
also  be  the  judges  in  applying  it.  Of  consequence,  the  money 
said  to  be  taken  from  us  for  our  defence,  may  be  employed  to  our 
injury.  We  may  be  chained  in  by  a  line  of  fortifications  —  obliged 
to  pay  for  the  building  and  maintaining  them  —  and  be  told,  that 
they  are  for  our  defence.  With  what  face  can  we  dispute  the 
fact,  after  having  granted  that  those  who  apply  the  money  had 
a  right  to  levy  it  ? ...  Besides,  the  right  of  levying  is  of  infinitely 
more  consequence,  than  that  of  applying.  The  people  of  EngJand, 
who  would  burst  out  into  fury,  if  the  crown  should  attempt  to 
levy  money  by  its  own  authority,  have  always  assigned  to  the 
crown  the  application  of  money.  .  .  . 


British  Rule  in  America  127 

The  declared  intention  of  the  act  [of  1767]  is  "  that  a  revenue 
should  be  raised  in  his  Majesty's  Dominions  in  America,  for 
making  a  more  certain  and  adequate  provision  for  defraying  the 
charges  of  the  Administration  of  Justice,  and  the  support  of  civil 
government  in  such  provinces  where  it  shall  be  found  necessary, 
and  towards  further  defraying  the  expences  of  defending,  protect 
ing  and  securing  the  said  dominions." 

Let  the  reader  pause  here  one  moment — and  reflect — whether 
the  colony  in  which  he  lives,  has  not  made  such  "  certain  and 
adequate  provision  "  for  these  purposes  as  is  by  the  colony  judged 
suitable  to  its  abilities,  and  all  other  circumstances.  —  Then,  let 
him  reflect  —  whether  if  this  act  takes  place,  money  is  not  to  be 
raised  on  that  colony  without  its  consent,  to  make  "  provision  " 
for  those  purposes,  which  it  does  not  judge  to  be  suitable  to  its 
abilities,  and  all  other  circumstances.  Lastly,  let  him  reflect  — 
whether  the  people  of  that  country  are  not  in  a  state  of  the  most 
abject  slavery,  whose  property  may  be  taken  from  them  under 
the  notion  of  right,  when  they  have  refused  to  give  it. 

For  my  part,  I  think  I  have  good  reason  for  vindicating  the 
honor  of  the  assemblies  on  this  continent,  by  publicly  asserting, 
that  they  have  made  as  "  certain  and  adequate  provision  "for  the 
purposes  above  mentioned,  as  they  ought  to  have  made,  and  that  it 
should  not  be  presumed,  that  they  will  not  do  it  hereafter.  Why 
then  should  these  most  important  trusts  be  wrested  out  of  their 
hands  ?  Why  should  they  not  now  be  permitted  to  enjoy  that 
authority,  which  they  have  exercised  from  the  first  settlement  of 
these  colonies  ?  Why  should  they  be  scandalized  by  this  innova 
tion,  when  their  respective  provinces  are  now,  and  will  be  for 
several  years,  laboring  under  loads  of  debt,  imposed  on  them 
for  the  very  purpose  now  spoken  of  ? ...  Is  it  possible  to  form 
an  idea  of  slavery  more  complete,  more  miserable,  more  disgrace 
ful,  than  that  of  a  people,  where  justice  is  administered,  govern 
ment  exercised,  and  a  standing  army  maintained,  at  the  expence 
of  the  people,  and  yet  without  the  least  dependence  upon  them  ?  If 
we  can  find  no  relief  from  this  infamous  situation,  let  Mr.  Grenville 
set  his  fertile  fancy  again  at  work,  and  as  by  one  exertion  of  it 
he  has  stript  us  of  our  property  and  liberty,  let  him  by  another 


128      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  from  England 

deprive  us  of  our  understanding ;  that  unconscious  of  what  we 
have  been  or  are,  and  ungoaded  by  tormenting  reflections,  we  may 
bow  down  our  necks,  with  all  the  stupid  serenity  of  servitude, 
to  any  drudgery,  which  our  lords  and  masters  shall  please  to 

command.  .  .  . 

Venienti  occurrite  morbo 

Oppose  disease  at  its  beginning 

A  Farmer 

THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

34.  Conflict-  The  news  of  the  battle  of  Lexington  reached  England, 
ofgthePc°0rn-S  m  General  Gage's  despatches,  June  9,  1775,  and  the 
flict  at  Lex-  official  account  of  the  fight  was  forthwith  published  in 

ington, 

April  19, 1775  the  London  Gazette.  "  From  the  praises  bestowed  upon 
[IDS]  officers  and  men  for  their  activity  and  bravery,"  says 
Dr.  Gordon,  "it  is  evident  that  the  Americans  made  the 
business  of  the  day  a  hard,  difficult,  and  dangerous  serv 
ice."1  The  following  account  of  the  battle  hangs  framed 
in  the  Hancock-Clark  House,  and  is  reprinted  here  by 
courtesy  of  the  Lexington  Historical  Society. 

A    CIRCUMSTANTIAL   ACCOUNT    OF    AN    ATTACK    THAT 
HAPPENED   ON  THE  19TH  OF  APRIL  1775,  ON   HIS   MAJ 
ESTY'S  TROOPS,  BY  A  NUMBER  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE 
PROVINCE  OF  MASSACHUSETTS-BAY 

On  Tuesday  the  i8th  of  April,  about  half  past  10  at  Night, 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Smith  of  the  i  oth  Regiment,  embarked  from 
the  Common  at  Boston,  with  the  Grenadiers  and  Light  Infantry 
of  the  Troops  there,  and  landed  on  the  opposite  side,  from 
whence  he  began  his  March  towards  Concord,  where  he  was 
ordered  to  destroy  a  magazine  of  military  stores,  deposited  there 
for  the  Use  of  an  Army  to  be  assembled,  in  Order  to  act 
against  his  Majesty,  and  his  Government.  The  Colonel  called 

1  Reverend  William  Gordon,  D.D.,  The  History  of  the  American 
Revolution,  London,  1788,  Vol.  I,  p.  503. 


British  Ride  in  America  129 

his  Officers  together  and  gave  Orders  that  the  Troops  should 
not  fire  unless  fired  upon ;  and  after  marching  a  few  miles,  de 
tached  six  Companies  of  Light  Infantry  under  the  command 
of  Major  Pitcairn,  to  take  Possession  of  two  Bridges  on  the 
other  side  of  Concord.  Soon  after  they  heard  many  signal 
Guns,  and  the  ringing  of  alarm  Bells  repeatedly,  which  con 
vinced  them  that  the  Country  was  rising  to  oppose  them,  and 
that  it  was  a  preconcerted  Scheme  to  oppose  the  King's  Troops, 
whenever  there  should  be  a  favorable  Opportunity  for  it.  About 
3  o'clock  the  next  Morning,  the  Troops  being  advanced  within 
two  Miles  of  Lexington,  Intelligence  was  received  that  about 
Five  Hundred  Men  in  Arms,  were  assembled,  and  determined 
to  oppose  the  King's  Troops* ;  [*At  this  time  advanced  Light 
Companies  loaded,  but  the  Grenadiers  were  not  loaded  when 
they  received  their  first  Fire]  and  on  Major  Pitcairn's  gal 
loping  up  to  the  head  of  the  advanced  Companies,  two  Offi 
cers  informed  him  that  a  Man  (advanced  from  those  that 
were  assembled)  had  presented  his  musquit  [musket]  and 
attempted  to  shoot  them,  but  the  Piece  flashed  in  the  Pan. 
On  this  the  Major  gave  directions  to  the  Troops  to  move 
forward,  but  on  no  Account  to  fire,  nor  even  to  attempt  it 
without  Orders.  When  they  arrived  at  the  End  of  the  Village, 
they  observed  about  2001  armed  Men,  drawn  up  on  a  Green, 
and  when  the  Troops  came  within  a  Hundred  Yards  of  them, 
they  began  to  file  off  towards  some  Stone  Walls,  on  their  right 
Flank :  the  Light  Infantry  observing  this,  ran  after  them ;  the 

1  This  is  a  gross  exaggeration.  The  Salem  Gazette  of  Friday,  April  21, 
1775,  under  the  caption  "Bloody  Butchery  by  the  British  Troops,  or 
the  Runaway  Fight  of  the  Regulars,"  says :  "  At  sunrise  they  observed 
between  30  and  40  inhabitants  exercising  near  the  Meeting-House. 
The  Commanding  Officer  ordered  them  to  lay  down  their  arms  and 
disperse,  which  not  being  directly  complied  with  he  demanded  them 
for  a  pack  of  rebels,  ordered  his  men  to  fire  upon  them,  and  killed 
eight  men  on  the  spot,  besides  wounding  several  more."  That  there 
were  men  in  England  who  believed  the  colonial  report  of  the  "  bloody 
butchery"  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  Home  Tooke  was  fined  ^"1000  in 
1777  for  collecting  and  transmitting  to  Franklin  a  fund  to  relieve  the 
widows  and  orphans  of  those  "  who  faithful  to  the  character  of  English 
men,  preferring  death  to  slavery,  were  inhumanly  murdered  by  the 
King's  troops  at  or  near  Lexington  and  Concord." 


130      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  from  England 

Major  instantly  called  to  the  Soldiers  not  to  fire,  but  to  surround 
and  disarm  them ;  some  of  them,  who  had  jumped  over  a  wall, 
then  fired  four  or  five  shot  at  the  Troops,  wounded  a  man  of 
the  ioth  Regiment,  and  the  Major's  Horse  in  two  Places,  and 
at  the  same  Time  several  Shots  were  fired  from  a  Meeting- 
House  on  the  left :  Upon  this,  without  any  Order  or  Regularity, 
the  Light  Infantry  began  a  scattered  Fire,  and  killed  several  of 
the  Country  People  ;  but  were  silenced  as  soon  as  -the  Authority 
of  their  Officers  could  make  them.*  [^Notwithstanding  the  Fire 
from  the  Meeting-House,  Colonel  Smith  and  Major  Pitcairn,  with 
the  greatest  Difficulty,  kept  the  Soldiers  from  forcing  into  the 
Meeting-House  and  putting  all  there  in  it  to  Death].  .  .  . 

Far  different  is  the  account  in  the  original  dispatch 
of  the  news  of  the  battle  of  Lexington,  sent  by  express 
riders  from  Watertown,  Massachusetts,  a  few  hours  after 
the  battle,  and  attested  by  patriotic  committees  in  all  the 
towns  through  which  it  passed  to  reach  Philadelphia, 

April  24. 

Watertown 

Wednesday  morning,  near  10  of  the  clock 

To  all  friends  of  American  liberty  be  it  known  that  this 
Morning,  before  break  of  day,  a  brigade  consisting  of  about 
1000  or  1200  men,  landed  at  Phip's  farm  at  Cambridge,  and 
marched  to  Lexington,  where  they  found  a  company  of  our 
colony  militia  in  arms,  upon  whom  they  fired  without  any  prov 
ocation,  and  killed  six  men,  and  wounded  four  others.  By  an 
express  from  Boston,  we  find  another  bridage  [brigade]  are 
now  upon  their  march  from  Boston,  supposed  to  be  about 
1000.  The  bearer,  Trail  Bissel,  is  charged  to  alarm  the  country 
quite  to  Connecticut,  and  all  persons  are  desired  to  furnish  him 
with  fresh  horses  as  they  may  be  needed.  I  have  spoken  with 
several  who  have  seen  the  dead  and  wounded.  Pray  let  the 
Delegates  from  this  Colony  to  Connecticut  see  this,  they  know 
Colonel  Foster,  of  Brookfield,  one  of  the  Delegates. 

J.  Palmer 
One  of  the  Company  of  S.Y.  [Safety] 


British  Ride  in  America  131 

Anxious  to  prove  that  the  British  and  not  the  Colonials 
fired  the  shot  at  Lexington  which  opened  the  Revolutionary 
War,  the  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts  ordered 
many  of  the  men  who  had  taken  part  in  the  events  of 
April  19  to  tell  their  story  under  oath.  A  set  of  these 
depositions  was  sent  to  Benjamin  Franklin,  the  Massa 
chusetts  agent  in  London,  to  be  published.  The  letter  to 
Franklin  and  the  deposition  of  Captain  John  Parker,  who 
commanded  the  Lexington  Minutemen,  follow : 

In  Provincial  Congress,  Watertown 

April  26,  1775 
To  the  Hon.  Benjamin  Franklin,  Esq.,  London : 

Sir :  From  the  entire  confidence  we  repose  in  your  faithful 
ness  and  abilities,  we  consider  it  the  happiness  of  this  Colony 
that  the  important  trust  of  agency  for  it,  on  this  day  of  unequalled 
distress,  is  devolved  on  your  hands ;  and  we  doubt  not  your 
attachment  to  the  cause  of  the  liberties  of  mankind  will  make 
every  possible  exertion  in  our  behalf  a  pleasure  to  you,  although 
our  circumstances  will  compel  us  often  to  interrupt  your  repose 
by  matters  that  will  surely  give  you  pain.  A  single  instance 
hereof  is  the  occasion  of  the  present  letter ;  the  contents  of 
this  packet  will  be  our  apology  for  troubling  you  with  it.  From 
these  you  will  see  how  and  by  whom  we  are  at  last  plunged 
into  the  horrours  of  a  most  unnatural  war.  Our  enemies,  we 
are  told,  have  despatched  to  Great  Britain  a  fallacious  account 
of  the  tragedy  they  have  begun ;  to  prevent  the  operation  of 
which  to  the  publick  injury,  we  have  engaged  the  vessel  that 
conveys  this  to  you  as  a  packet  in  the  service  of  this  Colony, 
and  we  request  your  assistance  in  supplying  Captain  Derby, 
who  commands  her,  with  such  necessaries  as  he  shall  want,  on 
the  credit  of  your  Constituents  in  Massachusetts-Bay.  But  we 
most  ardently  wish  that  the  several  papers  herewith  enclosed 
may  be  immediately  printed  and  dispersed  through  every  Town 
in  England,  and  especially  communicated  to  the  Lord  Mayor, 
Aldermen,  and  Common  Council  of  the  City  of  London,  that 
they  may  take  such  order  thereon  as  they  may  think  proper; 


132      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  from  England 

and  we  are  confident  your  fidelity  will  make  such  improvement 
of  them  as  shall  convince  all  who  are  not  determined  to  be  in 
everlasting  blindness,  that  it  is  the  united  efforts  of  both  Englands 
that  must  save  either.  But  that  whatever  price  our  bretheren 
in  the  .one  may  be  pleased  to  put  on  their  constitutional  liberties, 
we  are  authorized  to  assure  you  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  other, 
with  the  greatest  unanimity,  are  inflexibly  resolved  to  sell  theirs 
only  at  the  price  of  their  lives.  Signed  by  order  of  the  Provin 
cial  Congress : 

Jos.  Warren,  President  pro  tem. 

Lexington,  April  25,  1775 

I,  John  Parker,  of  lawful  age,  and  Commander  of  the  Militia 
in  Lexington,  do  testify  and  declare  that  on  the  nineteenth  in 
stant,  in  the  morning,  about  one  of  the  clock,  being  informed 
that  there  were  a  number  of  Regular  Officers  riding  up  and 
down  the  road,  stopping  and  insulting  people  as  they  passed 
the  road,  and  also  was  informed  that  a  number  of  Regular 
Troops  were  on  their  march  from  Boston,  in  order  to  take  the 
Province  Stores  at  Concord,  ordered  our  Militia  to  meet  on  the 
common  in  said  Lexington,  to  consult  what  to  do,  and  concluded 
not  to  be  discovered,  nor  meddle  or  make  with  said  Regular 
Troops  (if  they  should  approach)  unless  they  should  insult  us ; 
and  upon  their  sudden  approach,  I  immediately  ordered  our 
Militia  to  disperse  and  not  to  fire.  Immediately  said  Troops 
made  their  appearance  and  rushed  furiously,  fired  upon  and 
killed  eight  of  our  party,  without  receiving  any  provocation 

therefor  from  us. 

John  Parker 

(Attested  by  Justices  of  the  Peace  of  Middlesex  County) 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  BIRTH  OF  THE  NATION 

THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE 

Ten  weeks  after  the  affray  on  Lexington  green,  and  on  35.  The  final 
the  very  day  that  George  Washington,  as  commander  in  {£ ^ing 

chief,  was  reviewing  the  continental  army  at  Cambridge  George  m, 

i  r    ^i       July  8>  Z775 

(July  3,  1775)  the  more  conservative  members  ot  the 
Continental  Congress,  who  still  hoped  for  reconciliation 
with  England,  secured  the  appointment  of  a  committee 
to  draw  up  a  final  petition  to  the  king.1  John  Dickinson 
(see  No.  33,  p.  125)  wrote  the  petition,  which  was  signed 
July  8  —  two  days  after  the  Congress  had  voted  the  reso 
lution  justifying  armed  resistance  to  Great  Britain  —  and 
sent  by  Richard  Penn  to  be  laid  before  George  III.  But 
this  "olive  branch"  petition  had  no  better  fate  than  all  the 
preceding  appeals  to  the  king's  officers,  since  the  first  pro 
test  against  Grenville's  proposed  Stamp  Act  was  denounced 
by  the  Lords  of  Trade  as  showing  a  "  most  indecent  dis 
respect "  to  Parliament.  King  George's  proclamation  of 

1  Dickinson,  John  Jay,  and  James  Wilson  were  leading  conservatives 
in  the  Continental  Congress,  opposed  to  the  Adamses,  Patrick  Henry, 
Jefferson,  and  Christopher  Gadsden.  One  radical  writer,  Dulaney,  com- 
plained  that  Dickinson  and  Jay  compelled  Congress  again  "  to  whine 
in  the  Style  of  humble  petitioners  to  the  king."  Jefferson  said :  "  Con 
gress  gave  a  signal  proof  of  their  indulgence  to  Mr.  Dickinson,  and  of 
their  great  desire  not  to  go  too  fast  for  any  respectable  part  of  our  body, 
in  permitting  him  to  draw  their  second  petition  to  the  King  according  to 
his  own  ideas,  and  passing  it  with  scarcely  any  amendment."  -  "  Auto 
biography,"  in  Jefferson's  Works,  ed.  P.  L.  Ford,  Vol.  I,  p.  17. 

133 


134      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  from  England 

the  rebellion  of  the  American  colonies 1  was  issued  on  the 
day  set  for  the  presentation  of  the  petition.2 

TO  THE  KING'S  MOST  EXCELLENT  MAJESTY 

Most  gracious  sovereign, 

We,  your  Majesty's  faithful  subjects  of  the  colonies  of  New 
Hampshire,  Massachusetts  bay,  etc.  ...  in  behalf  of  ourselves, 
and  the  inhabitants  of  these  colonies,  who  have  deputed  us  to 
represent  them  in  general  Congress,  entreat  your  Majesty's 
gracious  attention  to  this  our  humble  petition. 

The  union  between  our  Mother  country  and  these  colonies, 
and  the  energy  of  mild  and  just  government,  produced  benefits 
so  remarkably  important,  and  afforded  such  an  assurance  of  their 
permanency  and  increase,  that  the  wonder  and  envy  of  other 
Nations  were  excited,  while  they  beheld  Great  Britain  riseing  to 
a  power  the  most  extraordinary  the  world  had  ever  known. 

Her  rivals,  observing  that  there  was  no  probability  of  this 
happy  connexion  being  broken  by  civil  dissensions,  and  appre 
hending  its  future  effects,  if  left  any  longer  undisturbed,  re 
solved  to  prevent  her  receiving  such  continual  and  formidable 
accessions  of  wealth  and  strength,  by  checking  the  growth  of 
these  settlements  from  which  they  were  to  be  derived. 

In  the  prosecution  of  this  attempt,  events  so  unfavourable  to 
the  design  took  place,  that  every  friend  to  the  interests  of  Great 
Britain  and  these  colonies,  entertained  pleasing  and  reasonable 
expectations  of  seeing  an  additional  force  and  extention  immedi 
ately  given  to  the  operations  of  the  union  hitherto  experienced, 
by  an  enlargement  of  the  dominions  of  the  Crown  and  the  re 
moval  of  ancient  and  warlike  enemies  to  a  greater  distance. 

1  See  facsimile  of  the  proclamation  in  Muzzey,  An  American  History, 

p. 112. 

2  Though  the  king  refused  audience  to  the  bearers  of  the  "  olive 
branch"  petition,  it  was  laid  before  the  House  of  Lords  on  November  7, 
where  the  motion  that  it  offered  a  basis  for  reconciliation  was  rejected 
by  a  vote  of  83  to  33.  A  week  later  a  proposal  for  conciliation  submitted 
by  Edmund  Burke  to  the  House  of  Commons  was  rejected  by  a  vote  of 
210  to  105.   King  and  Parliament  were  therefore  committed  to  the  prose 
cution  of  war  in  America  before  the  end  of  the  year  1775. 


The  Birth  of  the  Nation  1 3  5 

At  the  conclusion,  therefore,  of  the  late  war  [with  the  French, 
1754-1763],  the  most  glorious  and  advantageous  that  had  ever 
been  carried  on  by  British  arms,  your  loyal  colonists  having  con 
tributed  to  its  success,  by  such  repeated  and  strenuous  exertions, 
as  frequently  procured  them  the  distinguished  approbation  of 
your  Majesty,  of  the  late  king  [George  II,  died  1760],  and  of 
parliament,  doubted  not  but  that  they  should  be  permitted,  with 
the  rest  of  the  empire,  to  share  in  the  blessings  of  peace  and  in 
the  emoluments  of  victory  and  conquest.  While  these  recent 
and  honorable  acknowledgments  of  their  merits  remained  on 
record  in  the  journals  and  acts  of  that  august  legislature,  the 
Parliament,  undefaced  by  the  imputation  or  even  the  suspicion 
of  any  offence,  they  were  alarmed  by  a  new  system  of  statutes 
and  regulations  adopted  for  the  administration  of  the  colonies, 
that  filled  their  minds  with  the  most  painful  fears  and  jealousies; 
and,  to  their  inexpressible  astonishment,  perceived  the  dangers 
of  a  foreign  quarrel  quickly  succeeded  by  domestic  dangers,  in 
their  judgment,  of  a  more  dreadful  kind. 

Nor  were  their  anxieties  alleviated  by  any  tendency  in  this 
system  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  Mother  country.  For 
tho'  its  effects  were  more  immediately  felt  by  them,  yet  its  in 
fluence  appeared  to  be  injurious  to  the  commerce  and  pros 
perity  of  Great  Britain. 

We  shall  decline  the  ungrateful  task  of  describing  the  irksome 
variety  of  artifices  practised  by  many  of  your  Majesty's  Min 
isters,  the  delusive  pretences,  fruitless  terrors,  and  unavailing 
severities,  that  have,  from  time  to  time,  been  dealt  out  by  them, 
in  their  attempts  to  execute  this  impolitic  plan,  or  of  tracing, 
thro'  a  series  of  years  past,  the  progress  of  the  unhappy  dif 
ferences  between  Great  Britain  and  these  colonies,  which  have 
flowed  from  this  fatal  source.  Your  Majesty's  Ministers,  perse- 
•  vering  in  their  measures,  and  proceeding  to  open  hostilities  for 
enforcing  them,  have  compelled  us  to  arm  in  our  own  defence, 
and  have  engaged  us  in  a  controversy,  so  peculiarly  abhorrent 
to  the  affections  of  your  still  faithful  colonists,  that  when  we 
consider  whom  we  must  oppose  in  this  contest,  and  if  it  con 
tinues,  what  may  be  the  consequences,  our  own  particular 
misfortunes  are  accounted  by  us  only  as  parts  of  our  distress. 


136      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  from  England 

Knowing  to  what  violent  resentments  and  incurable  animosi 
ties  civil  discords  are  apt  to  exasperate  and  inflame  the  con 
tending  parties,  we  think  ourselves  required  by  indispensable 
obligations  to  Almighty  God,  to  your  Majesty,  to  our  fellow 
subjects,  and  to  ourselves,  immediately  to  use  all  the  means  in 
our  power,  not  incompatible  with  our  safety,  for  stopping  the 
further  effusion  of  blood,  and  for  averting  the  impending  calam 
ities  that  threaten  the  British  Empire. 

Thus  called  upon  to  address  your  Majesty  on  affairs  of  such 
moment  to  America,  and  probably  to  all  your  dominions,  we 
are  earnestly  desirous  of  performing  this  office,  with  the  utmost 
deference  for  your  Majesty ;  and  we  therefore  pray  that  your 
royal  magnanimity  and  benevolence  may  make  the  most  favor 
able  construction  of  our  expressions  on  so  uncommon  an  occa 
sion.  Could  we  represent  in  their  full  force,  the  sentiments  that 
agitate  the  minds  of  us  your  dutiful  subjects,  we  are  persuaded 
your  Majesty  would  ascribe  any  seeming  deviation  from  rever 
ence  in  our  language,  and  even  in  our  conduct,  not  to  any 
reprehensible  intention,  but  to  the  impossibility  of  reconciling 
the  usual  appearances  of  respect,  with  a  just  attention  to  our 
own  preservation  against  those  artful  and  cruel  enemies,  who 
abuse  your  royal  confidence  and  authority,  for  the  purpose  of 
effecting  our  destruction. 

Attached  to  your  Majesty's  person,  family,  and  government, 
with  all  devotion  that  principle  and  affection  can  inspire,  con 
nected  with  Great  Britain  by  the  strongest  ties  that  can  unite 
societies,  and  deploring  every  event  that  tends  in  any  degree  to 
weaken  them,  we  solemnly  assure  your  Majesty,  that  we  not 
only  most  ardently  desire  the  former  harmony  between  her  and 
these  colonies  may  be  restored,  but  that  a  concord  may  be  es 
tablished  between  them  upon  so  firm  a  basis  as  to  perpetuate  its 
blessings,  uninterrupted  by  any  future  dissentions,  to  succeeding 
generations  in  both  countries,  and  to  transmit  your  Majesty's 
Name  to  posterity,  adorned  with  that  signal  and  lasting  glory, 
that  has  attended  the  memory  of  those  illustrious  personages, 
whose  virtues  and  abilities  have  extricated  states  from  dangerous 
convulsions,  and,  by  securing  happiness  to  others,  have  erected 
the  most  noble  and  durable  monuments  to  their  own  fame. 


The  Birth  of  the  Nation  1 37 

We  beg  leave  further  to  assure  your  Majesty,  that  notwith 
standing  the  sufferings  of  your  loyal  colonists,  during  the  course 
of  the  present  controversy,  our  breasts  retain  too  tender  a  regard 
for  the  kingdom  from  which  we  derive  our  origin,  to  request 
such  a  reconciliation  as  might,  in  any  manner,  be  inconsistent 
with  her  dignity  or  her  welfare.  .  . ;  and  the  apprehensions  that 
now  oppress  our  hearts  with  unspeakable  grief,  being  once 
removed,  your  Majesty  will  find  your  faithful  subjects  on  this 
continent  ready  and  willing  at  all  times,  as  they  have  ever  been, 
with  their  lives  and  fortunes,  to  assert  and  maintain  the  rights 
and  interests  of  your  Majesty,  and  of  our  Mother  country. 

We,  therefore,  beseech  your  Majesty,  that  your  royal  authority 
and  influence  may  be  graciously  interposed  to  procure  us  relief 
from  our  afflicting  fears  and  jealousies,  occasioned  by  the  system 
before  mentioned,  with  all  humility  submitting  to  your  Majesty's 
wise  consideration  whether  it  may  not  be  expedient  for  facilitat 
ing  those  important  purposes,  that  your  Majesty  be  pleased  to 
direct  some  mode,  by  which  the  united  applications  of  your  faith 
ful  colonists  to  the  throne,  in  pursuance  of  their  common  councils, 
may  be  improved  into  a  happy  and  permanent  reconciliation ; 
and  that,  in  the  mean  time,  measures  may  be  taken  for  prevent 
ing  the  further  destruction  of  the  lives  of  your  Majesty's  subjects  ; 
and  that  such  statutes  as  more  immediately  distress  any  of  your 
Majesty's  colonies  may  be  repealed. 

For  by  such  arrangements  as  your  Majesty's  wisdom  can 
form,  for  collecting  the  united  sense  of  your  American  people, 
we  are  convinced  your  Majesty  would  receive  such  satisfactory 
proofs  of  the  disposition  of  the  colonists  towards  their  sovereign 
and  parent  state,  that  the  wished  for  opportunity  would  soon  be 
restored  to  them,  of  evincing  the  sincerity  of  their  professions, 
by  every  testimony  of  devotion  becoming  the  most  dutiful  subjects 
and  the  most  affectionate  colonists. 

That  your  Majesty  may  enjoy  a  long  and  prosperous  reign, 
and  that  your  descendants  may  govern  your  dominions  with 
honor  to  themselves  and  happiness  to  their  subjects,  is  our 
sincere  and  fervent  prayer. 

John  Hancock  [President] 
[and  forty  eight  members  of  the  Congress] 


138      The  Separation  of  tJic  Colonies  from  England 
36.  Thomas        Nothing  could  be  more  inconsistent  than  the  conduct 

Paine'sareu-      ,-    ,  , 

mentforin-  °*  tne  colonists  during  the  entire  year  1775  :  hurling  de 
fiance  at  Great  Britain  and  protesting  loyalty  to  George  III ; 
besieging  the  royal  governor  in  Boston  with  troops,  and 
the  royal  ear  in  Britain  with  petitions.  On  the  same  day 
(June  25,  1775)  George  Washington  passed  through  the 
city  of  New  York  on  his  way  to  take  command  of  the  con 
tinental  troops  at  Cambridge,  and  William  Tryon,  King 
George's  governor,  landed  at  the  Battery.  The  militia  of 
New  York,  with  apparently  equal  enthusiasm,  served  as 
escort  through  the  city,  first  to  the  rebel  general,  then  to  the 
royal  governor.  The  first  clear  call  to  the  American  colonies 
to  abandon  this  equivocal  position  and  declare  independ 
ence  of  Great  Britain  without  reservations,  apologies, 
or  regrets,  was  Thomas  Paine's  "Common  Sense,"  "a 
pamphlet,"  says  Conway,1  "whose  effect  has  never  been 
paralleled  in  literary  history."  After  discussing  the  origin 
and  design  of  government  in  general,  and  of  Great  Britain's 
hereditary  monarchy  in  particular,  Paine  comes  to  the 
American  situation. 

1  M.  D.  Conway,  Writings  of  Thomas  Paine,  Vol.  I,  p.  67  n.  There 
had  been  speculation  before  as  to  the  probable  eventual  separation  of 
the  colonies  from  England  (see  No.  30,  pp.  112  ff.)  and  general  proph 
ecies,  like  that  of  Turgot's,  that  colonies  were  like  fruits,  which  would 
drop  from  the  tree  when  ripe.  Also  thwarted  royal  governors  or  irate 
councilors  had  been  quick  to  accuse  the  colonists  of  striving  for  "  inde 
pendency."  But  unless  the  real  feelings  of  the  leading  men  in  America 
were  disguised  or  hidden,  John  Adams  must  have  been  looking  back 
on  events  through  the  coloring  medium  of  the  Revolution  when  he 
wrote  in  1807  that  "the  necessity  of  [American  independence]  some 
time  or  other,  was  always  familiar  to  gentlemen  of  reflection  in  all  parts 
of  America"  (Works,  ed.  C.  F.  Adams,  Vol.  IX,  p.  561).  In  November, 
1775,  Congress  recommended  to  New  Hampshire  the  establishment  of 
an  independent  government  only  "  during  the  continuance  of  the  present 
dispute  between  Great  Britain  and  the  colonies  "  (Journals  of  the  Con 
tinental  Congress,  ed.  W.  C.  Ford,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  319). 


The  Birth  of  the  Nation  1 39 

Volumes  have  been  written  on  the  subject  of  the  struggle 
between  England  and  America.  Men  of  all  ranks  have  embarked 
in  the  controversy,  from  different  motives  and  with  various  de 
signs  :  but  all  have  been  ineffectual,  and  the  period  of  debate 
is  closed.  Arms  as  the  last  resort  decide  the  contest ;  the  appeal 
was  the  choice  of  the  King,  and  the  Continent  has  accepted  the 
challenge. 

The  Sun  never  shined  on  a  cause  of  greater  worth.  Tis  not 
the  affair  of  a  City,  a  County,  a  Province,  or  a  Kingdom ;  but 
of  a  Continent  —  of  at  least  one  eighth  part  of  the  habitable 
Globe.  'Tis  not  the  concern  of  a  day,  a  year,  or  an  age ;  pos 
terity  are  virtually  involved  in  the  contest,  and  will  be  more  or 
less  affected  even  to  the  end  of  time,  by  the  proceedings  now. 
Now  is  the  seed-time  of  Continental  union,  faith  and  honour. 
The  least  fracture  now  would  be  like  a  name  engraved  with  the 
point  of  a  pin  on  the  tender  rind  of  a  young  oak ;  the  wound 
would  enlarge  with  the  tree,  and  posterity  read  it  in  full-grown 
characters. 

By  referring  the  matter  from  argument  to  arms,  a  new  era  for 
politics  is  struck  —  a  new  method  of  thinking  hath  arisen.  All 
plans,  proposals,  &c.  prior  to  the  nineteenth  of  April,  i.e.  to  the 
commencement  of  hostilities,  are  like  the  almanacks  of  the  last 
year ;  which,  tho'  proper  then,  are  superceded  and  useless  now. . . . 

I  have  heard  it  asserted  by  some,  that  as  America  has  flourished 
under  her  former  connection  with  Great- Britain,  the  same  con 
nection  is  necessary  towards  her  future  happiness,  and  will  always 
have  the  same  effect.  Nothing  can  be  more  fallacious  than  this 
kind  of  argument.  We  may  as  well  assert  that  because  a  child 
has  thrived  upon  milk,  that  it  is  never  to  have  meat.  ...  I 
answer  roundly  that  America  would  have  flourished  as  much, 
and  probably  more,  had  no  European  power  taken  any  notice 
of  her.  The  commerce  by  which  she  hath  enriched  herself  are 
the  necessaries  of  life,  and  will  always  have  a  market  while 
eating  is  the  custom  of  Europe. 

But  she  has  protected  us,  say  some.  That  she  hath  engrossed 
us  is  true,  and  defended  the  Continent  at  our  expence  as  well 
as  her  own,  is  admitted  ;  and  she  would  have  defended  Turkey 
from  the  same  motive,  viz.,  for  the  sake  of  trade  and  dominion. 


140      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  from  England 

Alas !  we  have  been  long  led  away  by  ancient  prejudices, 
and  made  large  sacrifices  to  superstition.  We  have  boasted  the 
protection  of  Great  Britain,  without  considering,  that  her  motive 
was  interest  not  attachment;  and  that  she  did  not  protect  us 
from  our  enemies  on  our  account,  but  from  her  enemies  on  her 
own  account,  from  those  who  had  no  quarrel  with  us  on  any 
other  account,  and  who  will  always  be  our  enemies  on  the  same 
account.  Let  Britain  waive  her  pretensions  to  the  Continent 
[America],  or  the  Continent  throw  off  the  dependance,  and  we 
should  be  at  peace  with  France  and  Spain,  were  they  at  war 
with  Britain.  .  .  .  France  and  Spain  never  were,  nor  perhaps 
ever  will  be,  our  enemies  as  Americans,  but  only  as  our  being 
the  subjects  of  Great  Britain^  .  .  . 

I  challenge  the  warmest  advocate  for  reconciliation  to  show 
a  single  advantage  that  this  continent  can  reap  by  being  con 
nected  with  Great  Britain.  I  repeat  the  challenge  ;  not  a  single 
advantage  is  derived.  Our  corn  will  fetch  its  price  in  any  market 
in  Europe,  and  our  imported  goods  must  be  paid  for,  buy  them 
where  we  will. 

But  the  injuries  and  disadvantages  which  we  sustain  by  that 
connection  are  without  number ;  and  our  duty  to  mankind  at 
large,  as  well  as  to  ourselves,  instruct  us  to  renounce  the  alliance. 
.  .  .  Europe  is  too  thickly  planted  with  kingdoms  to  be  long  at 
peace,  and  whenever  a  war  breaks  out  between  England  and 
any  foreign  power,  the  trade  of  America  goes  to  ruin,  because 
of  her  connection  with  Great  Britain.  .  .  .  Everything  that  is  right 
or  reasonable  pleads  for  separation.  The  blood  of  the  slain,  the 
weeping  voice  of  nature  cries,  Tis  TIME  TO  PART.  .  .  .  For  as 
Milton  wisely  expresses,  "  never  can  true  reconcilement  grow 
where  wounds  of  deadly  hate  have  pierced  so  deep."  .  .  . 

As  to  government  matters,  'tis  not  in  the  power  of  Great 
Britain  to  do  this  continent  justice :  the  business  of  it  will  soon 
be  too  weighty  and  intricate  to  be  managed  with  any  tolerable 
degree  of  convenience,  by  a  power  so  distant  from  us,  and  so 
very  ignorant  of  us ;  for  if  they  cannot  conquer  us,  they  cannot 

1  Here  is  the  germ  of  the  American  doctrine  of  the  undesirability  of 
entangling  foreign  alliances,  as  developed  in  Washington's  Farewell 
Address  of  1796  and  the  Monroe  Doctrine  of  1823. 


The  Birth  of  the  Nation  141 

govern  us.  To  be  always  running  three  or  four  thousand  miles 
with  a  tale  or  a  petition,  waiting  four  or  five  months  for  an 
answer,  which,  when  obtained,  requires  five  or  six  more  to 
explain  it  in,  will  in  a  few  years  be  looked  on  as  folly  and 
childishness.  There  was  a  time  when  it  was  proper,  and  there 
is  a  proper  time  for  it  to  cease.  .  .  . 

To  talk  of  friendship  with  those  in  whom  our  reason  forbids 
us  to  have  faith,  and  our  affections,  wounded  through  a  thousand 
pores,  instruct  us  to  detest,  is  madness  and  folly.  Every  day 
wears  out  the  little  remains  of  kindred  between  us  and  them ; 
and  can  there  be  any  reason  to  hope,  that  as  the  relationship 
expires,  the  affection  will  encrease,  or  that  we  shall  agree  better 
when  we  have  ten  times  more  and  greater  concerns  to  quarrel 
over  than  ever  ? 

Ye  that  tell  us  of  harmony  and  reconciliation,  can  ye  restore 
to  us  the  time  that  is  past  ?  .  .  .  The  last  cord  now  is  broken, 
the  people  of  England  are  presenting  addresses  against  us. 
There  are  injuries  which  nature  cannot  forgive :  she  would 
cease  to  be  nature  if  she  did.  .  .  .  The  social  compact  would 
dissolve,  and  justice  be  extirpated ,  from  the  earth,  or  have 
only  a  casual  existence  were  we  callous  to  the  touches  of 
affection.  .  .  . 

O  !  ye  that  love  mankind  !  Ye  that  dare  oppose  not  only  the 
tyranny  but  the  tyrant,  stand  forth!  Every  spot  of  thp  old 
world  is  overrun  with  oppression.  Freedom  hath  been  hunted 
round  the  Globe.  Asia  and  Africa  have  long  expelled  her. 
Europe  regards  her  like  a  stranger,  and  England  hath  given 
her  warning  to  depart.  O  !  receive  the  fugitive,  and  prepare 
in  time  an  asylum  for  mankind  ! 

"  Comparatively  few  people  of  the  present  generation,"  37.  The 
says  Mr.  Charlemagne  Tower,  Jr.,  in  his  work  on  "  The  al^nce 
Marquis  de  Lafayette  in  the  American  Revolution  "  (p.  iv),    [118j 
"  are  aware  of  the  inestimable  benefits  which  the  French 
nation  conferred  upon  our  forefathers  during  the  American 
Revolution,  at  a  time  when  America  was  without  credit 
abroad   and  when  our  cause  aroused  no  other  national 


142      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  from  England 

sympathy  in  the  world  than  that  of  our  faithful  ally.  France 
had  her  grievances  against  Great  Britain  as  well  as  we,  it 
is  true.  .  .  .  But  for  us  Americans  the  essential  facts  to  be 
remembered  in  connection  with  the  alliance  are  that  we 
went  of  our  own  accord  to  ask  France  for  help  1  and  that 
we  received  it  of  her."  In  the  summer  of  1777  the  young 
Marquis  de  Lafayette  came  to  America,  fortified  by  a 
letter  of  introduction  to  Congress  from  Franklin  and 
Deane,  to  offer  his  services  to  the  patriot  cause.  On 
July  31,  1777,  Congress  passed  the  following  resolution  : 

Whereas  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette,  out  of  his  great  zeal  to 
the  cause  of  liberty,  in  which  the  United  States  are  engaged, 
has  left  his  family  and  connections,  and  at  his  own  expence 
come  over  to  offer  his  services  to  the  United  States  without 
pension  or  particular  allowance,  and  is  anxious  to  risque  his  life 
in  our  cause  —  Resolved  that  his  service  be  accepted,  and  that 
in  consideration  of  his  zeal,  illustrious  family  and  connections  he 
have  rank  and  commission  of  Major  General  in  the  Army  of 
the  United  States. 

Lafayette  replied  in  the  following  letter,  the  original  of 
which   is   in  the  Archives  of  the   State   Department  at 
Washington  : 2 
SIR  the  13  august  1777 

I  beg  that  you  will  receive  yourself  and  present  to  Congress 
my  thanks  for  the  Commission  of  Major  General  in  the  Army 
of  the  United  States  of  America  which  I  have  been  honor'd 
with  in  their  name  the  feelings  of  my  heart,  long  before  it  be 
came  my  duty,  engaged  me  in  the  love  of  the  American  cause. 

1  See   the  facsimile   of    Franklin's    letter   to    the   French    minister 
Vergennes,  asking  for  an  alliance  —  our  first  diplomatic  correspondence 
—  in  Muzzey,  An  American  History,  p.  119. 

2  Mr.    Charlemagne  Tower,  Jr.,  has   published   a  facsimile  of  this 
quaint  letter  in  "  The  Marquis  de  Lafayette  in  the  American  Revolu 
tion,"  p.  184. 


The  Birth  of  the  Nation  143 

I  not  only  consider'd  it  as  the  cause  of  Honor,  Virtue,  and  uni 
versal  Happiness,  but  felt  myself  empressed  with  the  warmest 
affection  for  a  nation  who  exhibited  by  their  resistance  so  fine 
an  exemple  of  Justice  and  Courage  to  the  Universe. 

I  schall  neglect  nothing  on  my  part  to  justify  the  confidence 
which  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  has  been  pleased  to 
repose  in  me  as  my  highest  ambition  has  ever  been  to  do  every 
thing  only  for  the  best  of  the  cause  in  which  I  am  engaged.  I 
wish  to  serve  near  the  person  of  General  Washington  till  such 
time  as  he  may  think  proper  to  entrust  me  with  a  division  of 
the  Army. 

it  is  now  as  an  american  that  I  '1  mention  every  day  to  con 
gress  the  officers  who  came  over  with  me,  whose  interests  are 
for  me  as  my  own,  and  the  consideration  which  they  deserve 
by  their  merits  their  ranks,  their  state  and  reputation  in  France. 
I  am  sir  with  sentiments  which  every  good  american  owe  to  you 
Your  most  obedient 

servant  the  mqis  de  lafayette 
to 

the  honorable  Mr  Hankok 

president  of  Congress 

Philadelphia 

After  Burgoyne's  surrender  the  French  government 
concluded  not  only  the  "  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce" 
which  the  American  commissioners  had  been  seeking  to 
gain  for  a  year,  but  also  a  treaty  of  defensive  alliance, 
February  6,  1/78.  This  was  the  earliest  recognition  of 
the  United  States  by  a  foreign  power,  and  the  only  treaty 
of  alliance  we  have  ever  made.  The  chief  articles  read 
as  follows  : 

Article  I.  If  war  should  break  out  between  France  and 
Great  Britain  during  the  continuance  of  the  present  war  be 
tween  the  United  States  and  England,  his  majesty  [Louis  XVI] 
and  the  said  United  States  shall  make  it  a  common  cause,  and 
aid  each  other  mutually  with  their  good  offices,  their  counsels, 


144      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  front  England 

and  their  forces,  according  to  the  exigence  of  conjunctures,  as 
becomes  good  and  faithful  allies. 

Article  II.  The  essential  and  direct  end  of  the  present  de 
fensive  alliance  is,  to  maintain  effectually  the  liberty,  sovereignty, 
and  independence  absolute  and  unlimited  of  the  United  States, 
as  well  in  matters  of  government  as  of  commerce.  .  .  . 

Article  V.  If  the  United  States  should  think  fit  to  attempt 
the  reduction  of  the  British  power  remaining  in  the  northern 
parts  of  America,  or  in  the  islands  of  Bermudas,  those  countries 
or  islands,  in  case  of  success,  shall  be  confederated  with  or 
dependent  upon  the  said  United  States. 

Article  VI.  The  most  Christian  king  renounces  forever  the 
possession  of  the  islands  of  Bermudas,  as  well  as  of  any  part 
of  the  continent  of  North  America  which,  before  the  treaty  of 
1763,  or  in  virtue  of  that  treaty,  were  acknowledged  to  belong 
to  the  crown  of  Great  Britain,  or  to  the  United  States,  hereto 
fore  called  British  colonies.  .  .  . 

Article  VII.  If  his  most  Christian  majesty  shall  think  proper 
to  attack  any  of  the  islands  situated  in  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  or 
near  that  gulf,  which  are  at  present  under  the  power  of  Great 
Britain,  all  the  said  isles,  in  case  of  success,  shall  appertain  to 
the  crown  of  France. 

Article  VIII.  Neither  of  the  two  parties  shall  conclude  either 
truce  or  peace  with  Great  Britain,  without  the  formal  consent 
of  the  other  first  obtained ;  and  they  mutually  engage  not  to 
lay  down  their  arms  until  the  independence  of  the  United  States 
shall  have  been  formally,  or  tacitly,  assured  by  the  treaty  or 
treaties,  that  shall  terminate  the  war. 

Article  X.  The  most  Christian  king  and  the  United  States 
agree  to  invite  or  admit  other  powers,  who  may  have  received 
injuries  from  England,  to  make  common  cause  with  them,  and 
to  accede  to  the  present  alliance,  under  such  conditions  as  shall 
be  freely  agreed  to  and  settled  between  all  the  parties.  .  .  . 

Done  at  Paris,  this  6th  day  of  February,  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  seventy-eight 

C.  A.  Gerard  B.  Franklin 

Silas  Deane 
Arthur  Lee 


The  Birth  of  the  Nation  145 

Thursday,  August  6,  1/78,  M.  Gerard,  the  French  sig 
natory  of  the  above  treaty,  was  presented  to  Congress  as 
the  first  foreign  minister  accredited  to  the  United  States. 
He  presented  as  his  credentials  the  following  letter  from 
Louis  XVI : 

Very  dear,  great  friends  and  allies  : 

The  treaties  which  we  have  signed  with  you,  in  consequence 
of  the  proposals  of  your  commissioners  made  to  us  in  your  be 
half,  are  a  certain  assurance  of  our  affection  for  the  United 
States  in  general,  and  for  each  of  them  in  particular,  as  well  as 
of  the  interest  we  take  and  constantly  shall  take  in  their  hap 
piness  and  prosperity.  It  is  to  convince  you  more  particularly 
of  this  that  we  have  appointed  the  Sieur  Ge'rard,  Secretary  of  our 
council  of  state,  to  reside  among  you  in  the  quality  of  minister 
plenipotentiary.  He  is  the  better  acquainted  with  our  sentiments 
towards  you,  and  the  more  capable  of  testifying  the  same  to  you, 
as  he  was  entrusted  on  our  part  to  negotiate  with  your  commis 
sioners  and  signed  with  them  the  treaties  which  cement  our 
union.  We  pray  you  to  give  full  credit  to  all  he  shall  communi 
cate  to  you  from  us,  more  especially  when  he  shall  assure  you 
of  our  affection  and  constant  friendship  for  you.  We  pray  God, 
very  dear,  great  friends  and  allies,  to  have  you  in  his  holy  and 
noble  keeping. 

Versailles,  28  March,  1778 

Your  good  friend  and  ally 

r,      .      ,    ,7  Louis 

Gravier  de  Vergennes 

M.  Gerard  then  made  a  short  speech,  to  which  the 
president  of  the  Congress  replied  as  follows  : 

SIR  :  The  treaties  between  his  most  Christian  majesty  and 
the  United  States  of  America,  so  fully  demonstrate  his  wisdom 
and  magnanimity  as  to  command  the  reverence  of  all  nations. 
The  virtuous  citizens  of  America,  in  particular,  can  never  forget 
his  beneficent  attention  to  their  violated  rights,  nor  cease  to 
acknowledge  the  hand  of  a  gracious  Providence  in  raising  them 


146      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  from  England 

up  so  powerful  and  illustrious  a  friend.  It  is  the  hope  and 
opinion  of  Congress  that  the  confidence  his  majesty  reposes 
in  the  firmness  of  these  states,  will  receive  additional  strength 
from  every  day's  experience. 

This  assembly  are  convinced,  sir,  that  had  it  rested  solely 
with  the  most  Christian  king,  not  only  the  independence  of 
these  states  would  have  been  universally  acknowledged,  but  their 
tranquillity  fully  established.  We  lament  that  lust  of  domination 
which  gave  birth  to  the  present  war,  and  hath  prolonged  and 
extended  the  miseries  of  mankind.  We  ardently  wish  to  sheath 
the  sword,  and  spare  further  effusion  of  blood ;  but  we  are  de 
termined,  by  every  means  in  our  power,  to  fulfil  those  eventual 
engagements  which  have  acquired  positive  and  permanent  force 
from  the  hostile  designs  and  measures  of  the  common  enemy. 

Congress  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  assistance  so  wisely 
and  generously  sent,  will  bring  Great  Britain  to  a  sense  of 
justice  and  moderation,  promote  the  interests  of  France  and 
America,  and  secure  peace  and  tranquillity  on  the  most  firm 
and  honorable  foundation.  Neither  can  it  be  doubted  that  those 
who  adminster  the  powers  of  government  within  the  several 
states  of  this  union  will  cement  that  connection  with  the  subjects 
of  France,  the  beneficial  effects  of  which  have  already  been  so 
sensibly  felt. 

Sir :  From  the  experience  we  have  had  of  your  exertions  to 
promote  the  true  interests  of  our  country  as  well  as  your  own, 
it  is  with  the  highest  satisfaction  Congress  receive  as  the  first 
minister  from  his  most  Christian  majesty,  a  gentleman  whose 
past  conduct  affords  a  happy  presage,  that  he  will  merit  the 
confidence  of  this  body,  the  friendship  of  its  members,  and  the 
esteem  of  the  citizens  of  America.' 

In  Congress,  August  6,  1778  Henry  Laurens 

President 

France  scrupulously  fulfilled  the  treaty.  Her  aid  was 
generous  and  timely.  However,  when  the  "  essential  and 
direct  end  "  of  the  alliance,  as  expressed  in  Article  II, 
was  made  possible  by  the  surrender  of  the  British  Army 


The  Birth  of  the  Nation  147 

at  Yorktown,  it  was  so  manifestly  to  the  advantage  of  the 
United  States  to  make  peace  with  England,  that  Franklin 
and  his  colleagues  at  Paris  began  negotiations  in  spite  of 
explicit  instructions  from  Congress  to  respect  Article  VIII 
of  the  treaty.  When  the  French  minister  Vergennes  dis 
covered  this  he  wrote  with  pardonable  indignation  to 
Franklin.1 

Versailles,  December  15,  1782 

oIR, 

...  I  am  at  a  loss  to  explain  your  conduct  and  that  of  your 
colleagues  on  this  occasion.  You  have  concluded  your  prelimi 
nary  articles  without  any  communication  between  us,  although 
the  instructions  from  Congress  prescribe,  that  nothing  shall  be 
done  without  the  participation  of  the  King.  You  are  about  to 
hold  out  a  certain  hope  of  peace  to  America,  without  even  in 
forming  yourself  on  the  state  of  the  negotiation  on  our  part. 

You  are  wise  and  discreet,  Sir;  you  perfectly  understand 
what  is  due  propriety ;  you  have  all  your  life  performed  your 
duties.  I  pray  you  to  consider  how  you  propose  to  fulfil  those, 
which  are  due  to  the  King  ?  I  am  not  desirous  of  enlarging  on 
these  reflections ;  I  commit  them  to  your  own  integrity.  When 
you  shall  be  pleased  to  relieve  my  uncertainty,  I  will  entreat  the 
King  to  enable  me  to  answer  your  demands  [for  money].  I 
have  the  honor  to  be,  Sir,  with  sincere  regards,  &c. 

de  Vergennes 

Franklin's  reply  was  a  shrewd  combination  of  flattery 
and  finesse,  by  which,  sailing  dangerously  close  to  sophistry, 
he  was  nevertheless  able  to  pacify  and  satisfy  Vergennes. 

1  Four  days  later  Vergennes  wrote  to  Luzerne,  the  French  minister  in 
America :  «  If  we  may  judge  the  future  by  what  has  passed  here  under 
our  eyes,  we  shall  be  but  poorly  paid  for  all  we  have  done  for  the  United 
States,  and  for  securing  to  them  a  national  existence  "  (Works  of  Ben 
jamin  Franklin,  ed.  Smyth,  Vol.  X,  p.  393).  Franklin,  Jay,  and  Adams 
narrowly  escaped  being  recalled  in  disgrace,  on  the  complaint  of  Luzerne 
to  Congress. 


148      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  from  England 

Passy,  December  17,  1782 

oIRj 

I  received  the  letter  your  Excellency  did  me  the  honor  of 
writing  to  me  on  the  15th  instant.  .  .  .  Nothing  has  been  agreed 
in  the  preliminaries  contrary  to  the  interests  of  France ;  and  no 
peace  is  to  take  place  between  us  and  England,  till  you  have 
concluded  yours.  Your  observation  is,  however,  apparently  just, 
that  in  not  consulting  you  before  they  were  signed,  we  have 
been  guilty  of  neglecting  a  point  of  bienseance  [courtesy].  But 
as  this  was  not  from  want  of  respect  for  the  King,  whom  we 
all  love  and  honor,  we  hope  it  will  be  excused,  and  that  the 
great  work,  which  has  hitherto  been  so  happily  conducted,  is  so 
nearly  brought  to  perfection,  and  is  so  glorious  to  his  reign,  will 
not  be  ruined  by  a  single  indiscretion  of  ours.  And  certainly 
the  whole  edifice  sinks  to  the  ground  immediately,  if  you  refuse 
on  that  account  to  give  us  any  further  assistance.  .  .  . 

It  is  not  possible  for  anyone  to  be  more  sensible  than  I  am 
of  what  I  and  every  American  owe  to  the  King,  for  the  many 
and  great  benefits  and  favors  he  has  bestowed  upon  us.  All 
my  letters  to  America  are  proofs  of  this ;  all  tending  to  make 
the  same  impressions  on  the  minds  of  my  countrymen,  that  I 
felt  in  my  own.  And  I  believe,  that  no  Prince  was  ever  more 
beloved  and  respected  by  his  own  subjects,  than  the  King  is  by 
the  people  of  the  United  States.  The  English,  I  just  now  learn, 
flatter  themselves  they  have  already  divided  us.  I  hope  this  little 
misunderstanding  will  therefore  be  kept  a  secret,  and  that  they 
will  find  themselves  totally  mistaken.  With  great  and  sincere 
respect,  I  am,  Sir,  &c.  R  Franklin 

THE  REVOLUTIONARY  WAR 

38.  George  Among  the  little  group  of  intrepid  men  who  made  the 
Clack's  wonderful,  midwinter  march  from  the  Mississippi  to  the 
capture  of  Wabash  with  George  Rogers  Clark  in  1779,  was  Captain 
February  24,  Joseph  Bowman,  whose  journal  of  the  expedition  first 
1779  appeared  in  print  in  the  Louisville  Literary  News  of 

November  24,  1840,  from  an  original  manuscript  in  the 


The  Birth  of  the  Nation  149 

possession  of  the  Kentucky  Historical  Association.  The 
journal  covers  the  period  from  January  27,  when  Clark  at 
Kaskaskia  heard  the  news  of  Governor  Hamilton's  seizure 
of  Vincennes,  to  March  20,  when  the  six  boats  conveying 
Clark's  band  and  their  British  captives,  "  after  rejoicing, 
were  run  out  of  sight "  down  the  river  on  their  return 
journey  to  the  Mississippi  post. 

Jan.  27  [1779].  Mr.  Vigo,  a  Spanish  subject,  who  has  been 
at  Post  St.  Vincent  [Vincennes]  on  his  lawful  business,  arrived 
and  gave  us  intelligence  that  Governor  Hamilton,  with  thirty 
regulars  and  fifty  volunteers  and  about  four  hundred  Indians, 
had  arrived  in  November  and  taken  that  post,  with  Captain  Helm 
and  such  other  Americans  who  were  there  with  arms  ...  and 
disarmed  the  settlers  and  inhabitants,  on  which  Colonel  Clark 
called  a  council  of  his  officers,  and  it  was  concluded  to  go  and 
attack  Governor  Hamilton  at  St.  Vincent.  .  .  . 

Jan.  3 1  st.  Sent  an  express  to  Cahokia  for  volunteers  and 
other  extraordinary  things. 

Feb.  i  st.  Orders  given  for  a  large  batteau  [boat]  to  be  re 
paired  and  provisions  got  ready  for  the  expedition  concluded  on. 

5th.  Raised  another  company  of  volunteers,  under  the  com 
mand  of  Capt.  Francis  Charleville,  which,  added  to  our  force, 
increased  our  number  to  one  hundred  and  seventy  men  . .  .  about 
three  o'clock  we  crossed  the  Kaskaskia  with  our  baggage,  and 
marched  about  a  league  from  town.  Fair  and  drizzly  weather. 
Began  our  march  early.  Made  a  good  march  for  about  nine 
hours.  The  road  very  bad  with  mud  and  water.  Pitched  our 
camp  in  a  square,  baggage  in  the  middle,  every  company  to 
guard  their  own  squares. 

8th.  Marched  early  through  the  waters,  which  we  now  began 
to  meet  in  those  large  and  level  plains,  where  from  the  flatness 
of  the  country  [the  water]  rests  a  considerable  time  before  it 
drains  off ;  notwithstanding  which  our  men  were  in  great  spirits, 
though  much  fatigued.  .  .  . 

1 2th.  Marched  across  Cot  plains  ;  saw  and  killed  a  number  of 
buffaloes.  The  road  very  bad  from  the  immense  quantity  of  rain 


150      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  from  England 

that  had  fallen.  The  men  much  fatigued.  .  .  .  Now  twenty-one 
miles  from  St.  Vincent.  .  .  . 

1 5th.  Ferried  across  the  two  Wabashes,  it  being  then  five  miles 
in  water  to  the  opposite  hills,  where  we  encamped.  Still  raining. 
Orders  not  to  fire  any  guns  for  the  future,  but  in  case  of  necessity. 

1 6th.  Marched  all  day  through  rain  and  water ;  crossed  Fox 
river.  Our  provisions  began  to  be  short.  .  .  . 

2  2d.  Colonel  Clark  encourages  his  men,  which  gave  them  great 
spirits.  Marched  on  in  the  waters.  .  .  .  Heard  the  evening  and 
morning  guns  from  the  fort.  No  provisions  yet.  Lord  help  us ! 

23d.  Set  off  to  cross  the  plain  called  Horse-shoe  Plain,  about 
four  miles  long,  all  covered  with  water  breast  high.  Here  we 
expected  some  of  our  brave  men  must  certainly  perish,  having 
frozen  in  the  night  and  so  long  fasting.  Having  no  other  resource 
but  wading  this  plain,  or  rather  lake,  of  waters,  we  plunged  into 
it  with  courage,  Colonel  Clark  being  first,  taking  care  to  have 
the  boats  try  to  take  those  that  were  weak  and  numbed  with  the 
cold  into  them.  Never  were  men  so  animated  with  the  thought 
of  avenging  the  wrongs  done  to  their  back  settlements  as  this 
small  army  was.  About  one  o'clock  we  came  in  sight  of  the 
town.  We  halted  on  a  small  hill  of  dry  land  called  Warren's 
Island,  where  we  took  a  prisoner,  hunting  ducks,  who  informed 
us  that  no  person  suspected  our  coming  at  that  season  of  the 
year.  Colonel  Clark  wrote  a  letter  by  him  to  the  inhabitants,  in 
the  following  manner : 

To  the  Inhabitants  of  Post  St.  Vincent : 

Gentlemen :  Being  now  within  two  miles  of  your  village  with  my 
army,  determined  to  take  your  fort  this  night,  and  not  being  willing 
to  surprize  you,  I  take  this  method  to  request  such  of  you  as  are  true 
citizens,  and  willing  to  enjoy  the  liberty  I  bring  you,  to  remain  still 
in  your  houses,  and  those,  if  any  there  be,  who  are  friends  to  the 
king,  will  instantly  repair  to  the  fort  and  join  the  Hair-buyer  General^ 
and  fight  like  men.  And  if  any  such  as  do  not  go  to  the  fort  shall 
be  discovered  afterwards,  they  may  depend  on  severe  punishment. 
On  the  contrary,  those  who  are  true  friends  to  liberty  may  depend 

1  Governor  Hamilton  had  offered  rewards  to  the  Indians  for  the 
scalps  of  Americans. 


The  Birth  of  the  Nation  1  5  1 

on  being  well  treated  ;  and  I  once  more  request  them  to  keep  out  of 
the  streets,  for  every  one  I  find  in  arms  on  my  arrival  I  shall  treat 
as  an  enemy.  Q  R  Qark 

After  wading  to  the  edge  of  the  water  breast  high  we  mounted 
the  rising  ground  the  town  is  built  on  about  eight  o'clock  [p.m.]. 
Lieutenant  Bailey,  with  fourteen  regulars,  was  detached  to  fire 
on  the  fort  while  we  took  possession  of  the  town.  .  .  .  The 
cannon  played  smartly.  Not  one  of  our  men  wounded.  Men  in 
the  fort  badly  wounded.  Fine  sport  for  the  sons  of  Liberty. 

24th.  As  soon  as  daylight,  the  fort  began  to  play  her  small 
arms  very  briskly.  One  of  our  men  got  slightly  wounded.  About 
nine  o'clock  the  colonel  sent  a  flag  with  a  letter  to  Governor 
Hamilton.  The  firing  then  ceased,  during  which  time  our  men 
were  provided  with  a  breakfast,  it  being  the  only  meal  of  victuals 
since  the  i8th  inst. 

Colonel  Clark's  Letter,  as  follows  : 

SIR  :  —  In  order  to  save  yourself  from  the  impending  storm  that 
now  threatens  you  I  order  you  to  surrender  yourself,  with  all  your 
garrison,  stores,  etc.,  etc.,  etc.  For,  if  I  am  obliged  to  storm,  you 
may  depend  on  such  treatment  as  is  justly  due  to  a  murderer.  Be 
ware  of  destroying  stores  of  any  kind,  or  any  papers  or  letters  that 
are  in  your  possession  ;  for,  by  heaven,  if  you  do,  there  shall  be  no 
mercy  shown  you.  G  R 


Answer  from  Governor  Hamilton  : 

Governor  Hamilton  begs  leave  to  acquaint  Colonel  Clark  that  he 
and  his  garrison  are  not  disposed  to  be  awed  into  an  action  unworthy 
of  British  subjects. 

The  firing  then  began  very  hot  on  both  sides.  None  of  our 
men  wounded  ;  several  of  the  men  in  the  fort  wounded  through 
the  port-holes,  which  caused  Governor  Hamilton  to  send  out  a 
flag  with  the  following  letter  : 

Governor  Hamilton  proposes  a  truce  for  three  days.  .  .  .  He 
wishes  to  confer  with  Colonel  Clark  as  soon  as  can  be.  ...  If  Colonel 
Clark  makes  a  difficulty  of  coming  into  the  fort,  Lieutenant-Governor 
Hamilton  will  speak  to  him  by  the  gate.  Henry  Hamilton 


152      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  from  England 

Colonel  Clark's  Answer 

Colonel  Clark's  compliments  to  Governor  Hamilton,  and  begs  to 
inform  him  that  he  will  not  agree  to  any  other  terms  than  that  of 
Mr.  Hamilton's  surrendering  himself  and  garrison  prisoners  at  dis 
cretion.  If  Mr.  Hamilton  is  desirous  of  a  conference  "with  Colonel 
Clark,  he  will  meet  him  at  the  church  with  Captain  Helm. 

G.  R.  C. 

The  messenger  returned  with  the  above  answer,  during  which 
time  came  a  party  of  Indians  down  the  hill  behind  the  town,  who 
had  been  sent  by  Governor  Hamilton  to  get  some  scalps  and 
prisoners  from  the  falls  of  the  Ohio.  Our  men  having  got  news 
of  it  pursued  them,  killed  two  on  the  spot,  wounded  three,  took 
six  prisoners  —  brought  them  into  town  .  .  .  brought  them  to 
the  main  street  before  the  fort  gate,  there  tomahawked  them  and 
threw  them  into  the  river,  during  which  time  Colonel  Clark 
and  Governor  Hamilton  met  at  the  church.  Governor  Hamilton 
produced  certain  articles  of  capitulation,  with  his  name  signed  to 
them,  which  were  refused.  The  Colonel  told  him  he  would  con 
sult  with  his  officers  and  let  him  know  the  terms  he  would 
capitulate  on.  Terms  as  follows: 

1.  The  Lieu  tenant-Governor  Hamilton  engages  to  deliver  up 
to  Colonel  Clark  Fort  Sackville  as  it  is  at  present,  with  all  the 
stores,  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 

2.  The  garrison  are  to  deliver  themselves  as  prisoners  of  war, 
and  march  out  with  their  arms  and  accoutrements  etc.,  etc. 

3.  The  garrison  to  be  delivered  up  at  10  o'clock  tomorrow. .  .  . 
Signed  at  Post  St.  Vincent,  24th  February,  1779. 

Agreed  to,  for  the  following  reasons :  The  remoteness  from 
succor,  the  state  and  quantity  of  provisions  ;  unanimity  of  officers 
and  men  in  its  expediency,  the  honorable  terms  allowed,  and, 
lastly,  the  confidence  in  a  generous  enemy. 

Henry  Hamilton 

25th.  About  ten  oclock  Capt.  Bowman's  and  Capt.  McCarty's 
companies  paraded  on  one  side  of  the  fort  gate.  Governor 
Hamilton  and  his  garrison  marched  out,  while  Colonel  Clark, 
Capt.  William's  and  Worthington's  companies  marched  into  the 


The  Birth  of  the  Nation  1 5  3 

fort,  relieved  the   sentries,  hoisted   the  American  colors,  and 
secured  all  the  arms.  .  .  . 

27th.  .  .  .  came  William  Mires  from  Williamsburg  [Virginia] 
with  very  good  news.  .  .  . 

The  "  very  good  news  "  was  the  thanks  of  the  Virginia 
House  of  Burgesses  to  Clark  for  his  capture  of  the  Missis 
sippi  posts  and  a  major's  commission  for  Captain  Bowman. 
Clark  wrote  to  the  Speaker  of  the  House  ten  days  before 
quitting  Vincennes  : 

Fort  St.  Henry  St.  Vincent,  Mar.  10,  1779 
Dr  Sir, 

I  received  your  kind  letter  with  the  thanks  of  the  House  in 
closed.  I  must  confess,  Sir,  that  I  think  my  country  has  done  me 
more  honor  than  I  merited,  but  may  rest  assured  that  my  study 
shall  be  to  deserve  that  Honor  they  have  already  conferr'd  on  me. 
by  my  publick  letters  you  will  be  fully  acquainted  with  my 
late  successful  expedition  against  Lt.  Govr  Hamilton  who  has 
fallen  into  my  hands  with  all  the  principal  Partizans  of  Detroit. 
This  stroke  will  nearly  put  an  end  to  the  Indian  war,  had  I  but 
men  enough  to  take  advantage  of  the  present  confusion  of  the 
Indian  nations,  I  could  silence  the  whole  in  two  months.  I  leam 
that  five  hundred  men  is  ordered  out  to  reinforce  me.  If  they 
arrive  with  what  I  have  in  the  country,  I  am  in  hopes  will  enable 
me  to  do  something  clever, 

I  am  with  respect  Sir, 

Your  very  humble  servant 

Colonel  Harrison  G.  R.  Clark 

Speaker  of  the  House, 
Williamsburg 
pr  \vm  Moires 

PEACE 

Soon  after  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown,  39.  The 
the  Loyalists,  or  Tories,  in  America  addressed  the  follow 
ing  "  humble  and  dutiful  declaration  to  the  king's  most 
excellent  majesty,  to  both  houses  of  parliament,  and  the 


154      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  from  England 

people  of  Great  Britain."    The  Declaration  appeared  in 
the  London  Chronicle  of  March  9,   1782. 

We,  his  majesty's  most  dutiful  and  faithful  subjects,  the  loyal 
inhabitants  of  America,  who  have  happily  got  within  the  protec 
tion  of  the  British  forces,  as  well  as  those  who,  though  too  wise 
not  to  have  foreseen  the  fatal  tendency  of  the  present  wanton 
and  causeless  rebellion,  yet  from  numberless  obstacles,  and  un 
exampled  severities,  have  hitherto  been  compelled  to  remain 
under  the  tyranny  of  the  rebels,  and  submit  to  the  measures 
of  congressional  usurpation  ;  animated  with  the  purest  principles 
of  duty  and  allegiance  to  his  majesty  and  the  British  parliament, 
beg  leave,  with  the  deepest  humility  and  reverence,  on  the  pres 
ent  calamitous  occasion  of  public  and  national  misfortune,  in  the 
surrender  of  lord  Cornwallis,  and  the  army  under  his  lordship's 
command,  at  York  town,  humbly  to  entreat  that  your  majesty, 
and  the  parliament,  would  be  graciously  pleased  to  permit  us  to 
offer  this  renewed  testimony  of  loyalty  and  attachment  to  our 
most  gracious  sovereign,  and  the  British  nation  and  government ; 
and  thus  publicly  to  repeat  our  most  heart-felt  acknowledgments 
for  the  infinite  obligations  we  feel  ourselves  under  for  the  heavy 
expenses  that  have  been  incurred,  and  the  great  national  exer 
tions  that  have  been  made,  to  save  and  rescue  us,  and  your 
American  colonies,  from  impending  ruin,  and  the  accumulated 
distresses  and  calamities  of  civil  war.  . .  .  Our  sufferings  as  men, 
and  our  duty  as  loyal  subjects,  point  out  to  us  at  once,  the 
propriety,  in  our  present  situation,  of  thus  publicly  repeating 
our  assurances,  that  we  revere,  with  a  kind  of  holy  enthusiasm, 
the  ancient  constitution  of  the  American  colonies ;  and  that  we 
cannot  but  lament  every  event,  and  be  anxiously  solicitous  to 
remove  every  cause  or  suspicion,  that  might  have  the  most 
distant  tendency  to  separate  the  two  countries.  .  .  . 

Unhappily,  indeed,  for  ourselves,  and  we  cannot  but  think 
unfortunately  too  for  Great  Britain,  the  number  of  well  affected 
inhabitants  in  America  to  the  parent  country,  cannot,  for  obvious 
reasons,  be  exactly  ascertained.  .  .  .  The  penalty  under  which 
any  American  subject  enlists  in  his  majesty's  service,  is  no  less 
than  the  immediate  forfeiture  of  all  his  goods  and  chattels,  lands 


The  Birth  of  the  Nation  1 5  5 

and  tenements ;  and  if  apprehended  [captured],  and  convicted 
by  the  rebels  of  having  enlisted,  or  prevailed  on  any  other  per 
son  to  enlist  in  his  majesty's  service,  it  is  considered  as  treason, 
and  punished  with  death.  .  .  .  Yet,  notwithstanding  all  these 
discouraging  circumstances,  there  are  many  more  men  in  his 
majesty's  provincial  regiments  than  there  are  in  the  Continental 
service.  Hence  it  cannot  be  doubted  but  that  there  are  more 
loyalists  in  America  than  there  are  rebels ;  and  also  that  their 
zeal  must  be  greater,  or  so  many  would  not  have  enlisted  into 
the  provincial  service  under  such  very  unequal  circumstances. 
.  .  .  We  also  infer  from  the  small  number  of  militia  collected 
by  General  Greene,  the  most  popular  and  able  general  in  the 
service  of  congress,  in  the  long  circuitous  march  he  took  through 
many  of  the  most  populous,  and  confessedly  the  most  rebellious 
counties  in  that  country,  that  there  must  be  a  vast  majority  of 
loyalists  in  that  part  of  America,  as  well  as  elsewhere.  .  .  -1 

Relying  with  the  fullest  confidence  upon  national  justice  and 
compassion  to  our  fidelity  and  distresses,  we  can  entertain  no 
doubts  but  that  Great  Britain  will  prevent  the  ruin  of  her  Ameri 
can  friends,  at  every  risk  short  of  certain  destruction  to  herself. 
But  if  compelled,  by  adversity  of  misfortune,  from  the  wicked 
and  perfidious  combinations  and  designs  of  numerous  and  power 
ful  enemies  abroad,\£nd  more  criminal  and  dangerous  enemies 
at  home,  an  idea  should  be  formed  by  Great  Britain  of  relin 
quishing  her  American  colonies  to  the  usurpation  of  congress, 
we  thus  solemnly  call  God  to  witness,  that  we  think  the  colonies 
can  never  be  so  happy  or  so  free  as  in  a  constitutional  connex 
ion  with,  and  dependence  on  Great  Britain;  convinced, -as  we 
are,  that  to  be  a  British  subject,  with  all  its  consequences,  is  to 
be  the  happiest  and  freest  member  of  any  civil  society  in  the 
known  world. 

1  The  last  royal  governor  of  New  York,  James  Robertson,  in  his 
proclamation  of  April  15,  1780,  spoke  of  "the  ingenuous  thousands  of 
America"  who  were  faithful  to  the  King;  and  of  "the  Few"  rebels 
who  had  "  found  Means  to  acquire  Sway  in  the  Management  of  your 
affairs."  "  Can  they  want  Evidence  at  this  day,"  he  continues,  "  of  the 
Detestation  of  their  Measures,  by  an  increasing  Majority  of  their  own 
Countrymen?"  E.  B.  O'Callaghan,  Documentary  History  of  New  York, 
Vol.  IV,  p.  1086. 


156      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  front  England 

While  it  is  certain  that  the  number  of  the  Loyalists  was 
exaggerated  in  their  own  eyes  and  in  those  of  the  British 
officers,  nevertheless  the  very  violence  of  the  denunciations 
of  them  by  the  Revolutionists  from  Washington  himself 
down  to  the  pettiest  patriot  scribe  shows  that  they  were  a 
real  danger.  Had  they  been  only  a  tiny  harmless  minority, 
like  the  northern  opponents  of  the  Civil  War  in  1861,  for 
example,  or  the  denouncers  of  the  Philippine  War  in  1 899, 
they  probably  would  have  been  treated  with  contemptuous 
neglect  or  good-natured  ridicule  by  the  patriots,  in  spite  of 
the  zeal  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty.  The  following  article  from 
the  Pennsylvania  Packet  of  August  5,  1779,  illustrates  the 
patriot's  animus  : 

Among  the  many  errors  America  has  been  guilty  of  during 
her  contest  with  Great  Britain,  few  have  been  greater,  or  at 
tended  with  more  fatal  consequences  to  these  States,  than  her 
lenity  to  the  Tories.  .  .  .  We  can  no  longer  be  silent  on  this 
subject,  and  see  the  independence  of  the  country,  after  standing 
every  shock  from  without,  endangered  by  internal  enemies. 
Rouse,  America!  your  danger  is  great — great  from  a  quarter 
where  you  least  expect  it.  The  Tories,  the  Tories  will  yet  be  the 
ruin  of  you !  'Tis  high  time  they  were  separated  from  among 
you.  They  are  now  busy  engaged  in  undermining  your  liberties. 
They  have  a  thousand  ways  of  doing  it,  and  they  make  use  of 
them  all.  Who  were  the  occasion  of  this  war  ?  The  Tories ! 
Who  persuaded  the  tyrant  of  Britain  to  prosecute  it  in  a  manner 
before  unknown  to  civilized  nations,  and  even  shocking  to 
barbarians  ?  The  Tories !  .  .  .  Who  corrupt  the  minds  of  the 
good  people  of  these  States  by  every  species  of  insidious  coun 
sel  ?  The  Tories !  Who  hold  a  traitorous  correspondence  with 
the  enemy  ?  The  Tories !  . .  .  Who  prevent  your  battalions  from 
being  filled?  The  Tories!  .  .  .  Who  persuade  those  who  have 
enlisted  to  desert  ?  The  Tories !  .  .  .  In  short,  who  wish  to  see 
us  conquered,  to  see  us  Slaves,  to  see  us  hewers  of  wood  and 
drawers  of  water?  The  Tories. 


The  Birth  of  the  Nation  1 5  7 

And  is  it  possible  that  we  should  suffer  men,  who  have  been 
guilty  of  all  these  and  a  thousand  other  calamities  which  this 
country  has  experienced,  to  live  among  us !  To  live  among  us, 
did  I  say  ?  Nay,  do  they  not  move  in  our  assemblies  ?  Do  they 
not  insult  us  with  their  impudence  ?  Do  they  not  hold  traitorous 
assemblies  of  their  own  ?  Do  they  not  walk  the  streets  at  noon 
day,  and  taste  the  air  of  liberty  ? 

Believe  not  a  spark  of  ...  virtue  is  to  be  found  in  the  Tory's 
breast ;  for  what  principle  can  that  wretch  have  who  would  sell 
his  soul  to  subject  his  country  to  the  will  of  the  greatest  tyrant 
the  world  at  present  produces  ?  'Tis  time  to  rid  ourselves  of 
these  bosom  vipers.  An  immediate  separation  is  necessary.  I 
dread  to  think  of  the  evils  every  moment  is  big  with,  while  a  single 
Tory  remains  among  us.  ...  Awake,  Americans,  to  a  sense  of 
your  danger.  No  time  to  be  lost.  Instantly  banish  every  Tory 
from  among  you.  Let  America  be  sacred  alone  to  freemen. 

Drive  far  from  you  every  baneful  wretch  who  wishes  to  see 
you  fettered  with  the  chains  of  tyranny.  Send  them  where  they 
may  enjoy  their  beloved  slavery  to  perfection  —  send  them  to 
the  island  of  Britain ;  there  let  them  drink  the  cup  of  slavery 
and  eat  the  bread  of  bitterness  all  the  days  of  their  existence  — 
there  let  them  drag  out  a  painful  life,  despised  and  accursed  by 
those  very  men  whose  cause  they  have  had  the  wickedness  to 
espouse.  Never  let  them  return  to  this  happy  land  —  never  let 
them  taste  the  sweets  of  that  independence  which  they  strove  to 
prevent.  Banishment,  perpetual  banishment,  should  be  their  lot. 

First  among  the  Tory  satirists,  both  in  the  power  and  in 
the  venom  of  his  pen,  was  Jonathan  Odell,  a  graduate  of 
Princeton  College  in  1754,  surgeon  in  the  British  army 
in  the  West  Indies,  then  rector  in  the  Anglican  Church  in 
the  province  of  New  Jersey.  Up  to  the  last  battle  of  the 
Revolution,  and  while  there  was  a  British  soldier  left  in 
America,  Odell  maintained  his  confidence  that  the  "  re 
bellion"  would  be  crushed.  When  America  won  the  fight, 
Odell  retired  to  Nova  Scotia,  where  he  lived  in  poverty, 


158      The  Separation  of  the  Colonies  from  England 

an  "  unreconstructed  "  Loyalist  to  the  end  of  his  long  life. 
We  print  here  his  ode  on  the  birthday  of  King  George, 
June  4,  1777,  and  his  denunciation  of  Washington  in 
The  American  Times,  1779: 

Time  was  when  America  hallow'd  the  morn 
On  which  the  loved  monarch  of  Britain  was  born 
Hallow'd  the  day.  and  joyfully  chanted 
God  save  the  King ! 

Then  flourished  the  blessings  of  freedom  and  peace, 
And  plenty  flow'd  in  with  a  yearly  increase ; 
Proud  of  our  lot,  we  chanted  merrily 

Glory  and  joy  crown  the  King ! 

With  envy  beheld  by  the  nations  around, 
We  rapidly  grew,  nor  was  anything  found 
Able  to  check  our  growth  while  we  chanted 
God  save  the  King  ! 

O  blest  beyond  measure,  had  honor  and  truth 

Still  nurs'd  in  our  hearts  what  they  planted  in  youth ! 

Loyalty  still  had  chanted  merrily 

Glory  and  joy  crown  the  King ! 

But  see  !  how  rebellion  has  lifted  her  head  ! 
How  honor  and  truth  are  with  loyalty  fled ! 
Few  are  there  now  who  join  us  in  chanting 
God  save  the  King ! 

And  see  how  deluded  the  multitude  fly 
To  arm  in  a  cause  that  is  built  on  a  lye ! 
Yet  we  are  proud  to  chant  thus  merrily 
Glory  and  joy  crown  the  King ! 

Though  faction  by  falsehood  a  while  may  prevail, 
And  loyalty  suffers  a  captive  in  jail, 
Britain  is  rouzed,  rebellion  is  falling ; 
God  save  the  King ! 


The  Birth  of  the  Nation  i  59 

The  captive  shall  soon  be  releas'd  from  his  chain ; 
And  conquest  restore  us  to  Britain  again 
Ever  to  join  in  chanting  merrily 

Glory  and  joy  crown  the  King ! 


Hear  thy  indictment,  Washington,  at  large ; 

Attend  and  listen  to  the  solemn  charge : 

Thou  hast  supported  an  atrocious  cause 

Against  thy  king,  thy  country,  and  the  laws 

Committed  perjury,  encouraged  lies, 

Forced  conscience,  broken  the  most  sacred  ties ; 

Myriads  of  wives  and  fathers  at  thy  hand 

Their  slaughtered  husbands,  slaughtered  sons  demand. 

What  could,  when  halfway  up  the  hill  to  fame 

Induce  thee  to  go  back  and  link  with  shame  ? 

Was  it  ambition,  vanity  or  spite 

That  prompted  thee  with  Congress  to  unite  ? 

Or  did  all  three  within  thy  bosom  roll, 

*  Thou  heart  of  hero  with  a  traitor's  soul '  ? 

Go,  wretched  author  of  thy  country's  grief, 

Patron  of  villainy,  of  villains  chief ; 

Seek  with  thy  cursed  crew  the  central  gloom, 

Ere  Truth's  avenging  sword  begin  thy  doom  ; 

Or  sudden  vengeance  of  celestial  dart 

Precipitate  thee  with  augmented  smart. 


PART  III.    THE  NEW  REPUBLIC 


PART  III.    THE  NEW  REPUBLIC 

CHAPTER  VI 

THE  CONSTITUTION 

THE  CRITICAL  PERIOD 

The  entrance  of  the  United  States  into  the  family  of  40.  The  new 
nations  was  a  critical  step.     The  acknowledgment  of  our  j^011 
independence  by  Great  Britain  provoked,  rather  than  settled,      [135] 
the  most  important  questions.    It  remained  to  be  seen,  as 
Washington  said,  whether  the  Revolution  should  prove  a 
blessing  or  a  curse  to  America.    There  were  enthusiastic 
voices  raised  to  proclaim  the  event  as  the  opening  of  a  new 
era  in  the  history  of  the  world,  and  there  were  dire  prophe 
cies  of  anarchy  and  destruction.    The  Reverend  Richard 
Price  of  London,  who  had  followed  our  cause  with  sym 
pathy,  wrote  the  following  optimistic  admonition  in  1785: 

Having,  from  pure  conviction,  taken  a  warm  part  in  favor  of 
the  British  colonies  (now  the  United  States  of  America)  during 
the  late  war ;  and  been  exposed,  in  consequence  of  this,  to  much 
abuse  and  some  danger ;  it  must  be  supposed  that  I  have  been 
waiting  for  the  issue  with  anxiety  —  I  am  thankful  that  my 
anxiety  is  removed ;  and  that  I  have  been  spared  to  be  a  wit 
ness  to  that  very  issue  of  the  war  which  has  all  along  been  the 
object  of  my  wishes.  With  heartfelt  satisfaction,  I  see  the  revo 
lution  in  favor  of  universal  liberty  which  has  taken  place  in 
America ;  —  a  revolution  which  opens  a  new  prospect  in  human 
affairs,  and  begins  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  mankind ;  —  a 
revolution  by  which  Britons  themselves  will  be  the  greatest 
gainers,  if  wise  enough  to  improve  properly  the  check  that  has 
been  given  to  the  despotism  of  their  ministers,  and  to  catch 

163 


164  The  New  Reptiblic 

the  flame  of  virtuous  liberty  which  has  saved  their  American 
bretheren.  .  .  . 

Perhaps  I  do  not  go  too  far  when  I  say  that,  next  to  the 
introduction  of  Christianity  among  mankind,  the  American  revo 
lution  may  prove  the  most  important  step  in  the  progressive 
course  of  human  improvement.  It  is  an  event  which  may  pro 
duce  a  general  diffusion  of  the  principles  of  humanity,  and  be 
come  the  means  of  setting  free  mankind  from  the  shackles 
of  superstition  and  tyranny,  by  leading  them  to  see  and  know 
"  that  nothing  is  fundamental  but  impartial  enquiry,  an  honest 
mind,  and  virtuous  practice  .  .  .  that  the  members  of  a  civil 
community  are  confederates,  not  subjects ;  and  their  rulers,  ser 
vants,  not  masters. — And  that  all  legitimate  government  consists 
in  the  dominion  of  equal  laws  made  with  common  consent."  .  .  . 

Happy  will  the  world  be  when  these  truths  shall  be  every 
where  acknowledged  and  practised  upon.  ...  It  is  a  conviction 
I  cannot  resist,  that  the  independence  of  the  English  colonies 
in  America  is  one  of  the  steps  ordained  by  Providence  to  intro 
duce  these  times;  and  I  can  scarcely  be  deceived  in  this  con 
viction,  if  the  United  States  should  escape  some  dangers  which 
threaten  them,  and  will  take  proper  care  to  throw  themselves 
open  to  future  improvements,  and  to  make  the  most  of  the 
advantages  of  their  present  situation.  .  .  .  They  have  begun 
nobly.  They  have  fought  with  success  for  themselves  and  for 
the  world;  and  in  the  midst  of  invasion  and  carnage,  estab 
lished  forms  of  government  favorable  in  the  highest  degree  to 
the  rights  of  mankind.  —  But  they  have  much  more  to  do.  .  .  .. 

The  present  moment,  however  auspicious  to  the  United  States 
if  wisely  improved,  is  critical ;  and,  though  apparently  the  end  of 
all  their  dangers,  may  prove  the  time'of  their  greatest  danger.  .  .  . 
Should  the  return  of  peace  and  the  pride  of  independence  lead 
them  to  security  and  dissipation  —  Should  they  lose  those  vir 
tuous  and  simple  manners  by  which  alone  Republics  can  long 
subsist  —  Should  false  refinement,  luxury,  and  irreligion  spread 
among  them ;  excessive  jealousy  distract  their  governments ; 
and  clashing  interests,  subject  to  no  strong- controul,  break  the 
federal  union  —  The  consequence  will  be,  that  the  fairest  ex 
periment  ever  tried  in  human  affairs  will  miscarry ;  and  that  a 


The  Constitution  165 

REVOLUTION  which  had  revived  the  hopes  of  good  men  and 
promised  an  opening  to  better  times,  will  become  a  discourage 
ment  to  all  future  efforts  in  favour  of  liberty,  and  prove  only  an 
opening  to  a  new  scene  of  human  degeneracy  and  misery. 

Another  English  divine,  Josiah  Tucker,  Dean  of 
Gloucester,  in  1781  addressed  to  the  distinguished 
Necker,  ex-controller  general  of  the  finances  of  France, 
a  series  of  letters  entitled  Cui  Bono  ?  or  an  Inquiry  as  to 
the  benefit  that  could  arise  to  America,  or  to  any  other 
nation,  from  the  war.  Tucker  sees  only  anarchy  and  ruin 
ahead  for  the  presumptuous  new  nation.  In  his  sixth 
letter  he  writes : 

England  being  thus  laid  low,  and  humbled  to  the  Dust,  and 
the  American  stripes  interlaced  with  the  Lillies  of  France,  every 
where  triumphant ;  what  is  next  to  come  to  pass  ? — Why  truly, 
after  this  TOTAL  SEPARATION,  the  Mass  of  the  People  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  will  begin  to  awake  out  of  their 
Golden  Dream,  and  reflect  on  their  present  Situation,  by  com 
paring  it  with  the  past.  They  will  do  this  the  sooner,  because 
all  their  Fears  and  Dreads  about  that  fell  Monster,  the  tyran 
nical  Power  of  England,  will  then  be  at  an  End ;  and  the  Hob- 
gobling  Stories  of  Racks  and  Chains,  and  Tortures,  and  Deaths, 
and  raw  Heads,  and  bloody  Bones,  will  affright  no  longer.  .  .  . 

Great  indeed,  and  glorious  were  the  things  that  had  been 
promised!  They  were  to  be  the  happiest  of  all  People,  pro 
vided  they  would  shake  off  the  galling  Yoke  of  Britain,  and 
assert  their  un alienable  Birthrights,  their  native  Independence. 
When  that  happy  Day  should  come,  all  Grievances,  and  all 
Complaints  would  cease  forever  ...  all  Jealousies,  and  Discords, 
and  Factions,  would  be  banished  from  such  a  State ;  and  Har 
mony  and  Concord,  Peace  and  Friendship,  everywhere  prevail. — 
These  honors  and  blessings  were  reserved  for  America  \ 

WELL,  the  heavy  Yoke  of  Britain  being  thus  thrown  off  [Oh 
may  Britons  have  the  Wisdom,  and  the  Fortitude  never  to  yoke 
with  the  Americans  again  as  Fellow-Subjects,  on  any  Terms 


1 66  The  New  Republic 

whatever]  it  is  natural  to  ask,  What  have  these  Revolters  gained 
by  their  long-wished-for  Change,  after  so  much  Parade  and 
Bluster  ?  They  have  gained,  what  necessarily  follows  the  Breach 
of  Promises  never  intended  to  be  fulfilled  (if  indeed  such  Ac 
quisitions  can  be  called  GAINS)  they  have  gained  a  general  Dis 
appointment,  mixt  with  Anger  and  Indignation.  For  now  they 
find  that  all  the  fine  Speeches,  and  alluring  Promises  of  their 
patriotic  Leaders,  meant  nothing  at  all  —  but  to  amuse  and  to 
deceive.  Now  they  feel  that  the  little  Fingers  of  their  new 
fangled  Republican  Governors  are  heavier  than  the  whole  Body 
of  the  limited  and  mild  Constitution  of  Old  England.  And  as 
they  despised  and  rejected  [like  the  Frogs  in  the  Fable]  the  Gov 
ernment  of  one  King  Log,  they  are  now  obliged  to  submit  to  the 
Tyranny  of  an  hundred  King  Storks.  .  .  . 

As  to  the  future  Grandeur  of  America,  and  its  being  a  rising 
Empire,  under  one  Head,  whether  Republican,  or  Monarchical, 
it  is  one  of  the  idlest,  and  most  visionary  Notions,  that  ever  was 
conceived  even  by  Writers  of  Romance.  For  there  is  nothing 
in  the  Genius  of  the  People,  the  Situation  of  their  Country,  or 
the  Nature  of  their  different  Climates,  which  tends  to  Counte 
nance  such  a  Supposition.  On  the  contrary,  every  Prognostic 
that  can  be  formed  from  a  Contemplation  of  their  mutual  Antip 
athies,  and  clashing  Interests,  their  Difference  of  Governments, 
Habitudes,  and  Manners,  —  plainly  indicates,  that  the  Americans 
will  have  no  Center  of  Union  among  them,  and  no  Common  In 
terest  to  pursue,  when  the  Power  and  Government  of  England. 
are  finally  removed.  Moreover,  when  the  Intersections  and 
Divisions  of  their  Country  by  great  Bays  of  the  Sea,  and  by  vast 
Rivers,  Lakes,  and  Ridges  of  Mountains; — and  above  all,  when 
those  immense  inland  Regions,  beyond  the  Back  Settlements, 
which  are  still  unexplored,  are  taken  into  the  Account,  they  form 
the  highest  Probability  that  the  Americans  never  can  be  united 
into  one  compact  Empire,  under  any  Species  of  Government 
whatever.  Their  Fate  seems  to  be,  —  A  DISUNITED  PEOPLE,  till 
the  End  of  Time. 

A  saner  view  of  the  promise  and  the  danger  in  the 
new  situation  of  America  was  taken  by  Tench  Coxe  of 


The  Constitution  167 

Philadelphia,  a  distinguished  writer  of  financial  and  com 
mercial  pamphlets.  On  May  n,  1787  (exactly  two  weeks 
before  the  Constitutional  Convention  began  its  work  with 
George  Washington  in  the  chair),  Coxe  read  a  paper 
before  the  Society  for  Political  Enquiries,  at  a  meeting 
at  Benjamin  Franklin's  house. 

There  are  in  eveiy  country  certain  important  crises  when 
exertion  or  neglect  must  produce  consequences  of  the  utmost 
moment.  The  period  at  which  the  inhabitants  of  these  states 
have  now  arrived,  will  be  admitted,  by  every  attentive  and  serious 
person,  to  be  clearly  of  this  description.  Our  money  absorbed 
by  a  wanton  consumption  of  imported  luxuries,  a  fluctuating 
paper  medium  .  .  .  foreign  commerce  extremely  circumscribed, 
and  a  federal  government  not  only  ineffective,  but  disjointed, 
tell  us  indeed  too  plainly,  that  further  negligence  may  ruin  us 
forever.  .  .  . 

The  foundations  of  national  wealth  and  consequence  are  so 
firmly  laid  in  the  United  States,  that  no  foreign  power  can  under 
mine  or  destroy  them.  But  the  enjoyment  of  these  substantial 
blessings  is  rendered  precarious  by  domestic  circumstances. 
Scarcely  held  together  by  a  weak  and  half  formed  federal  con 
stitution,  the  powers  of  our  national  government,  are  unequal 
to  the  complete  execution  of  any  salutory  purpose,  foreign  or 
domestic.  The  evils  resulting  from  this  unhappy  state  of  things 
have  again  shocked  our  reviving  credit,  produced  among  our 
people  alarming  instances  of  disobedience  to  the  laws,1  and  if 
not  remedied,  must  destroy  our  property,  liberties,  and  peace. 
Foreign  powers,  however  disposed  to  favor  us,  can  expect  neither 
satisfaction  nor  benefit  from  treaties  with  Congress,  while  they 
[Congress]  are  unable  to  enforce  them.2  .  .  . 

1  For  examples  of  this  state  of  anarchy,  see  Muzzey,  An  American 
History,  p.  139. 

2  When  our  first  minister  to  England,  John  Adams,  attempted  to  treat 
with  the  foreign   Secretary,  Lord  Carmarthen,  he  was  met  with  the 
ironical  request  for  thirteen  ministers  from  the  American  States.    See 
Channing,  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  465. 


1 68  The  New  Republic 

It  would  not  be  difficult  perhaps  to  form  a  new  article  of 
Confederation * .  .  .  and  a  question  may  arise  whether  fellowship 
with  any  state  that  would  refuse  to  admit  it,  can  be  satisfactory 
or  safe. .  .  .  The  present  state  of  things  instead  of  inviting  emi 
grants,  deters  all  who  have  the  means  of  information,  and  are 
capable  of  thinking.  The  settlement  of  our  lands,  and  the  intro 
duction  of  manufactories  and  branches  of  trade  yet  unknown 
among  us  or  requiring  a  force  of  capital,  which  are  to  make  our 
country  rich  and  powerful,  are  interrupted  and  suspended  by 
our  want  of  public  credit  and  the  numerous  disorders  of  our 
government. 

41.  Ham-  "The  Articles  of  Confederation,"  says  Channing/'were 

for°anade-  obsolete  when  signed  by  the  members  of  Congress,  and 
quate  con-  antiquated  when  the  Maryland  delegates  gave  the  consent 
September  3,  of  that  state  to  their  ratification."2  To  the  wonderful  genius 
1780  of  Alexander  Hamilton  we  owe  the  most  convincing  ac 

count  of  the  inadequacy  of  the  Articles  and  the  first  clear 
call  for  a  convention  to  frame  a  suitable  Constitution  for 
the  United  States.  On  September  3,  1780,  six  months 
before  the  Articles  of  Confederation  went  into  effect  even, 
Hamilton,  then  a  young  man  of  only  twenty-three,  wrote 
to  James  Duane,  a  member  of  Congress  from  New  York : 

Liberty  Pole,  September  3,  1780 
Dear  Sir : 

Agreeably  to  your  request,  and  my  promise,  I  sit  down  to 
give  you  my  ideas  of  the  defects  of  our  present  system,  and  the 
changes  necessary  to  save  us  from  ruin.  They  may,  perhaps, 
be  the  reveries  of  a  projector,  rather  than  the  sober  views  of  a 
politician.  You  will  judge  of  them,  and  make  what  use  you 
please  of  them. 

The  fundamental  defect  is  a  want  of  power  in  Congress.  It 
is  hardly  worth  while  to  show  in  what  this  consists,  as  it  seems 

1  Four  months  after    Coxe    read    this    paper   the   "  new  article   of 
Confederation,"  the  Constitution  of  the   United  States,  was  finished 

2  Channing,  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  463. 


The  Constitution  169 

to  be  universally  acknowledged;  or  to  point  out  how  it  has  hap 
pened,  as  the  only  question  is  how  to  remedy  it.  It  may,  how 
ever,  be  said,  that  it  has  originated  from  three  causes:  an  excess 
of  the  spirit  of  liberty,  which  has  made  the  particular  States 
show  a  jealousy  of  all  power  not  in  their  own  hands, — and  this 
jealousy  has  led  them  to  exercise  a  right  of  judging  in  the  last 
resort  of  the  measures  recommended  by  Congress,  and  of  acting 
according  to  their  own  opinions  of  their  propriety,  or  necessity ; 
a  diffidence,  in  Congress,  of  their  own  powers,  by  which  they 
have  been  timid  and  indecisive  in  their  resolutions,  constantly 
making  concessions  to  the  States,  till  they  have  scarcely  left 
themselves  the  shadow  of  power;  a  want  of  sufficient  means 
at  their  disposal  to  answer  the  public  exigencies,  and  of  vigor 
to  draw  forth  those  means,  which  have  occasioned  them  to  de 
pend  on  the  States  individually  to  fulfil  their  engagements.  .  .  . 

It  may  be  pleaded  that  Congress  never  had  any  definite 
powers  granted  them,  and  of  course  could  exercise  none,  could 
do  nothing  more  than  recommend.  The  manner  in  which  Con 
gress  was  appointed  would  warrant,  and  the  public  good  required 
that  they  should  have  considered  themselves  as  vested  with  full 
power  to  preserve  the  republic  from  harm}-  They  have  done  many 
of  the  highest  acts  of  sovereignty,  which  were  always  cheerfully 
submitted  to  :  The  declaration  of  independence,  the  declaration 
of  war,  the  levying  of  an  army,  creating  a  navy,  emitting  money, 
making  alliances  with  foreign  powers,  appointing  a  dictator,2 
etc.  All  these  implications  of  a  complete  sovereignty  were  never 
disputed,  and  ought  to  have  been  a  standard  for  the  whole 
conduct  of  administration.  .  .  . 

But  the  Confederation  itself  is  defective,  and  requires  to  be 
altered.  It  is  neither  fit  for  war  nor  peace.  The  idea  of  an  un 
controllable  sovereignty  in  each  State  over  its  internal  police  will 

1  The  formula  (ne  quid  res  publica  detrimenti  capiaf]  by  which  the 
Roman  Senate  entrusted  extraordinary  powers  to  the  consuls,  or  re 
publican  officers. 

2  The  •  dictator  in  the  Roman  state  superseded  all  the  constituted 
powers  of  the  Republic.    It  is  a  gross  exaggeration  to  use  this  term  of 
Washington,  who  was  appointed  commander  of  the  continental  army 
simply,  and  who  was  subject  to  the  hampering  control  of  Congress 
constantly. 


1 70  The  New  Republic 

defeat  the  other  powers  given  to  Congress,  and  make  our  union 
feeble  and  precarious.  There  are  instances  without  number 
where  acts,  necessary  for  the  general  good,  and  which  rise  out 
of  the  powers  given  to  Congress,  must  interfere  with  the  in 
ternal  police  of  the  States ;  and  there  are  as  many  instances  in 
which  the  particular  States,  by  arrangements  of  internal  police, 
can  effectually,  though  indirectly,  counteract  the  arrangements 
of  Congress.  .  .  . 

The  first  step  must  be  to  give  Congress  powers  competent 
to  the  public  exigencies.  This  may  happen  in  two  ways :  one 
by  resuming  and  exercising  the  discretionary  powers  I  suppose 
to  have  been  originally  vested  in  them  for  the  safety  of  the 
States  .  .  .  the  other,  by  calling  immediately  a  Convention  of 
all  the  States,  with  full  authority  to  conclude  finally  upon  a 
General  Confederation,  stating  to  them  beforehand,  explicitly, 
the  evils  arising  from  a  want  of  power  in  Congress.  .  .  .  The 
Convention  should  assemble  the  first  of  November  next.  The 
sooner  the  better.  Our  disorders  are  too  violent  to  admit  of  a 
common  or  lingering  remedy.  The  reasons  for  which  I  require 
them  [the  delegates]  to  be  vested  with  plenipotentiary  authority 
are  that  the  business  may  suffer  no  delay  in  the  execution,  and 
may  in  reality,  come  to  effect.  A  Convention  may  agree  upon 
a  Confederation ;  the  States  individually  hardly  ever  will.  .  .  . 

The  Confederation,  in  my  opinion,  should  give  Congress 
complete  sovereignty,  except  as  to  that  part  of  internal  police 
which  relates  to  the  rights  of  property  and  life  among  individuals, 
and  to  raising  money  by  internal  taxes.  .  .  .  Congress  should 
have  complete  sovereignty  in  all  that  relates  to  war,  peace, 
trade,  finance ;  and  to  the  management  of  foreign  affairs ;  the 
right  of  declaring  war;  of  raising  armies,  officering,  paying 
them,  directing  their  motions  in  every  respect ;  of  equipping 
fleets,  and  doing  the  same  with  them ;  of  building  fortifications 
arsenals,  magazines,  etc. ;  of  making  peace  on  such  conditions 
as  they  think  proper ;  of  regulating  trade,  determining  with  what 
countries  it  shall  be  carried  on ;  .  .  .  laying  prohibitions  on  all 
the  articles  of  export  or  import ;  imposing  duties  ;  .  .  .  instituting 
Admiralty  Courts  etc. ;  of  coining  money ;  establishing  banks 
on  such  terms,  and  with  such  privileges  as  they  think  proper ; 


The  Constitution  171 

appropriating  funds,  and  doing  whatever  else  relates  to  the 
operations  of  finance ;  transacting  everything  with  foreign  na 
tions ;  making  alliances  offensive  and  defensive,  treaties  of 
commerce,  etc.,  etc.  .  .  .  The  Confederation  should  provide 
certain  perpetual  revenues,  productive  and  easy  of  collection ; 
a  land  tax,  poll  tax,  or  the  like l ;  which,  together  with  the  duties 
on  trade,  and  the  unlocated  lands,  would  give  Congress  a  sub 
stantial  existence,  and  a  stable  foundation  for  their  schemes  of 
finance.2  .  .  . 

The  second  step  I  would  recommend  is,  that  Congress  should 
instantly  appoint  the  following  great  officers  of  State :  A  Secre 
tary  of  Foreign  Affairs,  a  President  of  War,  a  President  of 
Marine,  a  Financier,  a  President  of  Trade.  .  .  .  Congress  should 
choose  for  these  offices  men  of  the  first  abilities,  property,  and 
character  in  the  Continent,  and  such  as  have  had  the  best  oppor 
tunities  of  being  acquainted  with  the  several  branches.3  .  .  . 

I  have  only  skimmed  the  surface  of  the  different  subjects  I 
have  introduced.  Should  the  plans  recommended  come  into 
contemplation  in  earnest,  I  will  endeavor  to  give  them  more 
form  and  particularity.4  I  am  persuaded  a  solid  confederation, 
a  permanent  army,  and  a  reasonable  prospect  of  subsisting  it, 
would  give  us  treble  consideration  in  Europe,  and  produce  a 
peace  this  winter.  .  .  . 

If  a  Convention  is  called,  the  minds  of  all  the  States  and  the 
people  ought  to  be  prepared  to  receive  its  determinations  by 

1  The  Income  Tax  of  1913  is  the  first  of  such  "  perpetual  revenues  " 
to  be  provided  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

2  The  student  should  compare  these  powers  of  Congress  suggested 
by  Hamilton  in  1780  with  those  actually  granted  in  the  Constitution  of 
1787  (Art.  I,  Sect.  VIII). 

3  This  suggestion  of  Hamilton's  foreshadowed  the  efficient  executive 
department  of  the  government,  established  by  the  Constitution.    How 
ever,  Hamilton's  letter  bore  fruit  before  1787;  for  executive  officers 
were  appointed  by  Congress — John  Jay  for  Foreign  Affairs,  Robert 
Morris  for  Finance,  and  others.    Let  the  student  compare  the  number 
and  titles  of  the  executive  officers  suggested  by  Hamilton  with  those 
of  our  actual  cabinet. 

4  The  draught  of  Hamilton's  plan  for  a  constitution,  drawn  up  in 
"form  and  particularity"  in  1787  may  be  found  in  Max  Farrand,  Records 
of  the  Federal  Convention,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  617-630. 


1 72  The  New  Republic 

sensible  and  popular  writings,  which   should   conform  to  the 
views  of  Congress.   .   .  . 

I  have  not  time  even  to  correct  and  copy,  but  only  enough 
to  add  that  I  am,  very  truly  and  affectionately,  dear  sir, 
Your  most  obedient  servant, 

A.  Hamilton 

"A  MORE  PERFECT  UNION" 

42.  The  con-  As  a  result  of  the  commercial  conventions  held  at  Mount 
convention,  Vernon  in  1785  and  Annapolis  in  1786,  six  states  had 
May  to  Sep-  already  appointed  delegates  to  a  general  convention  for 

tember,  1787 

[1421  ^e  thoroughgoing  revision  of  the  Articles  of  Confedera 
tion,  when  Congress  issued  the  formal  summons,  Feb 
ruary  21,  1787  I1 

Resolved,  That  in  the  opinion  of  Congress,  it  is  expedient, 
that  on  the  second  Monday  in  May  next,  a  convention  of 
delegates,  who  shall  have  been  appointed  by  the  several  states, 
be  held  at  Philadelphia,  for  the  sole  and  express  purpose  of 
revising  the  articles  of  confederation,  and  reporting  to  Congress 
and  the  several  legislatures,  such  alterations  and  provisions 
therein,  as  shall  when  agreed  to  in  Congress,  and  confirmed 

by  the  states,  render  the  federal  constitution  adequate  to  the 

exigencies  of  Government,  and  the  preservation  of  the  union. 

1  Six  weeks  before  this  resolution  of  Congress,  John  Jay,  Secretary 
for  Foreign  Affairs,  wrote  to  Washington :  "  Would  it  not  be  better  for 
Congress  plainly  and  in  strong  terms  to  declare  that  the  present  Federal 
Government  is  inadequate  to  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  instituted  .  .  . 
that  in  their  opinion  it  would  be  expedient  for  the  people  of  the  States 
without  delay  to  appoint  State  conventions  .  .  .  with  the  sole  and  express 
power  of  appointing  deputies  to  a  general  convention,  who  .  .  .  should 
take  into  consideration  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  and  make  such 
alterations,  amendments,  and  additions  thereto  as  to  them  should  appear 
necessary  and  proper?  .  .  .  No  alterations  in  the  government  should, 
I  think,  be  made,  nor  if  attempted  will  easily  take  place,  unless  deducible 
from  the  only  source  of  just  authority — the  People.'1''  —  John  Jay,  Corre 
spondence  etc.,  ed.  H.  P.  Johnston,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  229. 


The  Constitution  173 

Major  William  Pierce,  a  delegate  from  Georgia,  left 
pen  pictures  of  most  of  his  associates  in  the  Convention, 
which  were  printed  first  in  the  Savannah  Georgian,  April, 
1828.  His  characterizations  of  Washington,  Hamilton, 
Franklin,  and  Madison  follow : 

Gen1  Washington  is  well  known  as  the  Commander  in  chief 
of  the  late  American  army.  Having  conducted  these  States  to 
independence  and  peace,  he  now  appears  to  assist  in  framing 
a  Government  to  make  the  People  happy.  Like  Gustavus  Vasa, 
he  may  be  said  to  be  the  deliverer  of  his  Country ;  like  Peter 
the  great  he  appears  as  the  politician  and  the  States-man ;  and 
like  Cincinnatus  he  returned  to  his  farm  perfectly  contented 
with  being  only  a  plain  Citizen,  after  enjoying  the  highest  honor 
of  the  confederacy,  —  and  now  only  seeks  for  the  approbation 
of  his  Country-men  by  being  virtuous  and  useful :  The  General 
was  conducted  to  the  Chair  as  President  of  the  Convention  by 
the  unanimous  vote  of  its  Members.  He  is  in  the  52d  year  of 
his  age. 

Col°  Hamilton  is  deservedly  celebrated  for  his  talents.  He 
is  a  practitioner  of  the  Law,  and  reputed  to  be  a  finished 
Scholar.  To  a  clear  and  strong  judgment  he  unites  the  orna 
ments  of  fancy,  and  whilst  he  is  able,  convincing,  and  engaging 
in  his  eloquence  the  Heart  and  Head  sympathize  in  approving 
him.  Yet  there  is  something  too  feeble  in  his  voice  to  be  equal 
to  the  strains  of  oratory ;  —  it  is  my  opinion  that  he  is  rather 
a  convincing  Speaker,  than  a  blazing  Orator.  Col°  Hamilton 
requires  time  to  think,  —  he  enquires  into  every  part  of  his 
subject  with  the  searchings  of  phylosophy,  and  when  he  comes 
forward  he  comes  highly  charged  with  interesting  matter,  there 
is  no  skimming  over  the  surface  of  a  subject  with  him,  he  must 
sink  to  the  bottom  to  see  what  foundation  it  rests  on.  —  His 
language  is  not  always  equal,  sometimes  didactic  like  Boling- 
broke's,  at  others  light  and  tripping  like  Stern's.  His  eloquence 
is  not  so  defusive  [diffusive]  as  to  trifle  with  the  senses,  but  he 
rambles  just  enough  to  strike  and  keep  up  the  attention.  He 
is  about  33  years  old,  of  small  stature,  and  lean.  His  manners 


1 74  The  New  Republic 

are  tinctured  with  stiffness,  and  sometimes  with  a  degree  of 
vanity  that  is  highly  disagreable. 

Dr  Franklin  is  well  known  to  be  the  greatest  phylosopher 
of  the  present  age ;  —  all  the  operations  of  nature  he  seems  to 
understand,  —  the  very  heavens  obey  him,  and  the  Clouds  yield 
up  their  Lightning  to  be  imprisoned  in  his  rod.  But  what  claim 
he  has  to  the  politician,  posterity  must  determine.  It  is  certain 
that  he  does  not  shine  much  in  public  Council,  —  he  is  no 
Speaker,  nor  does  he  seem  to  let  politics  engage  his  attention. 
He  is,  however,  a  most  extraordinary  Man,  and  tells  a  story  in 
a  style  more  engaging  than  anything  I  ever  heard.  Let  his 
Biographer  finish  his  character.  He  is  82  years  old,  and  pos 
sesses  an  activity  of  mind,  equal  to  a  youth  of  25  years  of  age. 

Mr.  Maddison  [Madison]  is  a  character  who  has  long  been 
in  public  life ;  and  what  is  very  remarkable  every  Person  seems 
to  acknowledge  his  greatness.  He  blends  together  the  profound 
politician,  with  the  Scholar.  In  the  management  of  every  great 
question  he  evidently  took  the  lead  in  the  Convention,  and  tho' 
he  cannot  be  called  an  Orator,  he  is  a  most  agreable,  eloquent, 
and  convincing  Speaker.  From  a  spirit  of  industry  and  applica 
tion,  which  he  possesses  in  a  most  eminent  degree,  he  always 
comes  forward  the  best  informed  Man  of  any  point  in  debate. 
The  affairs  of  the  United  States,  he  perhaps,  has  the  most 
correct  knowledge  of,  of  any  Man  in  the  Union.  He  has  been 
twice  a  Member  of  Congress,  and  was  always  thought  one  of 
the  ablest  Members  that  ever  sat  in  that.  Council.  Mr.  Maddison 
is  about  37  years  of  age,  a  Gentleman  of  great  modesty, — with 
a  remarkably  sweet  temper.  He  is  easy  and  unreserved  among 
his  acquaintance,  and  has  a  most  agreable  style  of  conversation. 

Passions  often  rose  high  during  the  stormy  debates  in 
the  Convention,  and  it  looked  several  times  as  though  the 
assembly  might  break  up  in  irreconcilable  discord.  The 
Constitution  which  resulted  from  its  labors  was  not  alto 
gether  acceptable  to  the  leaders ;  but  Franklin,  with  his 
rare  good  sense  and  quiet  reasonableness,  pleaded  for  har 
mony  in  the  closing  session. 


The  Constitution  17$ 

September  17  [1787].  .  .  .  The  engrossed  Constitution  being 
read,  —  Dr  FRANKLIN  rose  with  a  speech  in  his  hand,  which 
.  .  .  Mr.  Wilson  read  in  the  words  following: 

"  Mr.  President :  —  I  confess  that  there  are  several  parts  of  this 
Constitution  which  I  do  not  at  present  approve,  but  I  am  not 
sure  I  shall  never  approve  them.  For,  having  lived  long,  I  have 
experienced  many  instances  of  being  obliged,  by  better  infor 
mation  or  fuller  consideration,  to  change  opinions,  even  on  im 
portant  subjects,  which  I  once  thought  right,  but  found  to  be 
otherwise.  It  is  therefore  that,  the  older  I  grow,  the  more  apt 
I  am  to  doubt  my  own  judgment,  and  to  pay  more  respect  to 
the  judgment  of  others.  .  .  . 

In  these  sentiments,  Sir,  I  agree  to  this  Constitution,  with 
all  its  faults,  if  they  are  such  ;  because  I  think  a  general  govern 
ment  necessary  for  us,  and  there  is  no  form  of  government,  but 
what  may  be  a  blessing  to  the  people  if  well  administered.  .  .  . 
I  doubt,  too,  whether  any  other  Convention  we  can  obtain  may 
be  able  to  make  a  better  Constitution.  For,  when  you  assemble 
a  number  of  men  to  have  the  advantage  of  their  joint  wisdom, 
you  inevitably  assemble  with  those  men  all  their  prejudices,  their 
passions,  their  errors  of  opinion,  their  local  interests,  and  their 
selfish  views.  From  such  an  assembly  can  a  perfect  production 
be  expected  ?  It  therefore  astonishes  me,  sir,  to  find  this  system 
approaching  so  near  to  perfection  as  it  does ;  and  I  think  it  will 
astonish  our  enemies,  who  are  waiting  with  confidence  to  hear 
that  our  councils  are  confounded,  like  those  of  the  builders  of 
Babel ;  and  that  our  states  are  on  the  point  of  separation,  only 
to  meet  hereafter  for  the  purpose  of  cutting  one  another's  throats. 
Thus  I  consent,  sir,  to  this  Constitution,  because  I  expect  no 
better,  and  because  I  am  not  sure  that  it  is  not  the  best.  The 
opinions  I  have  had  of  its  errors  I  sacrifice  to  the  public  good. 
I  have  never  whispered  a  syllable  of  them  abroad.  Within  these 
walls  they  were  born,  and  here  they  shall  die.  If  every  one  of 
us,  in  returning  to  our  constituents,  were  to  report  the  objec 
tions  he  has  had  to  it,  and  endeavor  to  gain  partisans  in  sup 
port  of  them,  we  might  prevent  its  being  generally  received, 
and  thereby  lose  all  the  salutary  effects  and  great  advantages 
resulting  naturally  in  our  favor  among  foreign  nations,  as  well 


176  The  New  Republic 

as  among  ourselves,  from  our  real  or  apparent  unanimity.  Much 
of  the  strength  and  efficiency  of  any  government,  in  procuring 
and  securing  happiness  to  the  people,  depends  on  opinion  — 
on  the  general  opinion  of  the  goodness  of  the  government,  as 
well  as  of  the  wisdom  and  integrity  of  its  governors.  I  hope, 
therefore,  that  for  our  own  sakes,  as  a  part  of  the  people,  and 
for  the  sake  of  posterity,  we  shall  act  heartily  and  unanimously 
in  recommending  this  Constitution  (if  approved  by  Congress 
and  confirmed  by  the  conventions)  wherever  our  influence  may 
extend,  and  turn  our  future  thoughts  and  endeavors  to  the 
means  of  having  it  well  administered. 

On  the  whole,  Sir,  I  cannot  help  expressing  a  wish  that  every 
member  of  the  Convention,  who  'may  still  have  objections  to  it, 
would  with  me,  on  this  occasion,  doubt  a  little  of  his  own  infal 
libility,  and,  to  make  manifest  our  unanimity,  put  his  name  to 
this  instrument."  .  .  . 

Whilst  the  last  members  were  signing,  Dr  FRANKLIN,  looking 
towards  the  president's  chair,  at  the  back  of  which  a  rising  sun 
happened  to  be  painted,  observed  to  a  few  members  near  him, 
that  painters  had  found  it  difficult  to  distinguish,  in  their  art, 
a  rising  from  a  setting  sun.  "  I  have/'  he  said,  "  often  and 
often,  in  the  course  of  the  session,  and  the  vicissitudes  of  my 
hopes  and  fears  as  to  its  issue,  looked  at  that  behind  the  presi 
dent,  without  being  able  to  tell  whether  it  was  rising  or  setting ; 
but  now,  at  length,  I  have  the  happiness  to  know  that  it  is  a 
rising,  and  not  a  setting  sun." 

The  labors  of  the  Convention  being  finished,  its  presi 
dent  sent  the  engrossed  and  signed  copy  of  the  Constitution 
to  Congress  with  the  following  letter : 

September  17,  1787- 
SIR: 

We  have  now  the  honor  to  submit  to  the  consideration  of 
the  United  States,  in  Congress  assembled,  that  Constitution 
which  has  appeared  to  us  the  most  advisable.  The  friends  of 
our  country  have  long  seen  and  desired  that  the  power  of  making 


The  Constitution  177 

war,  peace,  and  treaties ;  that  of  levying  money,  and  regulating 
commerce  ;  and  the  correspondent  executive  and  judicial  author 
ities,  —  should  be  fully  and  effectually  vested  in  the  general 
government  of  the  Union.  .  .  . 

It  is  obviously  impracticable,  in  the  federal  government  of 
these  states,  to  secure  all  rights  of  independent  sovereignty  to 
each,  and  yet  provide  for  the  interest  and  safety  of  all.  Indi 
viduals  entering  into  society  must  give  up  a  share  of  liberty  to 
preserve  the  rest.  .  .  . 

In  all  our  deliberations  on  this  subject,  we  kept  steadily  in 
our  view,  that  which  appears  to  us  the  greatest  interest  of  every 
true  American,  the  consolidation  of  our  Union,  in  which  is  in 
volved  our  prosperity,  felicity,  safety  —  perhaps  our  national 
existence.  This  important  consideration,  seriously  and  deeply 
impressed  on  our  minds,  led  each  state  in  the  Convention  to 
be  less  rigid,  on  points  of  inferior  magnitude,  than  might  have 
been  otherwise  expected ;  and  thus  the  Constitution,  which  we 
now  present,  is  the  result  of  a  spirit  of  amity,  and  of  that  mutual 
deference  and  concession  which  the  peculiarity  of  our  political 
situation  rendered  indispensable. 

That  it  will  meet  the  full  and  entire  approbation  of  every 
state,  is  not  perhaps  to  be  expected;  but  each  will  doubtless 
consider  that,  had  her  interest  alone  been  consulted,  the  conse 
quences  might  have  been  particularly  disagreeable  or  injurious 
to  others ;  that  it  is  liable  to  as  few  exceptions  as  could  reason 
ably  have  been  expected,  we  hope  and  believe ;  that  it  may 
promote  the  lasting  welfare  of  that  country  so  dear  to  us  all, 
and  secure  her  freedom  and  happiness,  is  our  most  ardent  wish. 

With  great  respect,  we  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  your  Excel 
lency's  most  obedient  and  humble  servants.  By  the  unanimous 
order  of  the  Convention. 

G°  WASHINGTON,  President 

His  Excellency,  the  President  of  Congress 

Only  three  of  the  delegates  present  at  the  closing  ses-  43.  Mason's 
sion  of  the  Convention  refused  to  sign  the  Constitution  —  agaSwt'rati- 
Elbridge  Gerry  of  Massachusetts  and  Edmund  Randolph  Cation,  1788 

[145] 


1 78  The  New  Republic 

and  George  Mason  of  Virginia.1  Mason  led  the  fight 
against  ratification  in  the  Virginia  Convention  of  1788, 
supported  by  Patrick  Henry  (who  had  been  elected  to 
the  Convention  at  Philadelphia,  but  had  refused  to  serve), 
Richard  Henry  Lee,  and  James  Monroe.2  Mason  published 
his  apprehensive  views  to  the  citizens  of  Virginia  under 
the  title,  "  The  Objections  of  the  Hon.  Geo.  Mason  to 
the  proposed  Foederdl  Constitution." 

There  is  no  declaration  of  rights  :  and  the  laws  of  the  general 
government  being  paramount  to  the  laws  and  constitutions  of 
the  several  states,  the  declarations  of  rights,  in  the  separate 
states,  are  no  security.  .  .  . 

The  Senate  have  the  power  of  altering  all  money-bills,  and 
of  originating  appropriations  of  money,  and  the  salaries  of  the 
officers  of  their  appointment,  in  conjunction  with  the  President 
of  the  United  States  —  Although  they  are  not  the  representatives 
of  the  people,  or  amenable  to  them.  These,  with  their  other 
great  powers,  (viz. :  their  powers  in  the  appointment  of  ambas 
sadors,  and  all  public  officers,  in  making  treaties,  and  in  trying 
all  impeachments)  their  influence  upon,  and  connection  with, 
the  supreme  executive  from  these  causes,  their  duration  of  office, 
and  their  being  a  constant  existing  body,  almost  continually 

1  Of  the  65  members  elected  to  the  Constitutional  Convention,  55 
attended.    Of  these  39  signed  the  Constitution.    Three  refused  to  sign, 
and  13  were  absent  from  the  closing  session.   Of  the  absentees  only  four 
(Lansing  and  Yates  of  New  York  and  Mercer  and  Martin  of  Maryland) 
were  hostile  to  the  Constitution. 

2  About  a  fortnight  after  Virginia  ratified,  Monroe  wrote  to  Thomas 
Jefferson,  who  was  our  minister  in  Paris,  declaring  that  Washington's 
influence  had  carried  the  state  for  ratification,  and  that  a  certain  letter 
of  Jefferson's  on  the  subject  had  been  discussed  with  great  regard  for 
the  author.   Jefferson  would  probably  have  opposed  the  Constitution  as 
too  aristocratic,  had  he  been  at  home  to  take  part  in  the  events  of  1787- 
1788;  although  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  for  Paris  (July  i,  1784)  he 
had  written  to  Madison  from  Boston :  "  I  find  the  conviction  growing 
strongly  that  nothing  can  preserve  our  confederacy  unless  the  band  of 
union,  their  common  council,  be  strengthened "  (Works,   ed.   Ford, 
Vol.  Ill,  p.  502). 


The  Constitution  179 

sitting,  joined  with  their  being  one  complete  branch  of  the  legis 
lature,  will  destroy  any  balance  in  the  government,  and  enable 
them  to  accomplish  what  usurpation  they  please,  upon  the  rights 
and  liberties  of  the  people. 

The  judiciary  of  the  United  States  is  so  constructed  and  ex 
tended,  as  to  absorb  and  destroy  the  judiciaries  of  the  several 
states ;  thereby  rendering  laws  as  tedious,  intricate,  and  expen 
sive,  and  justice  as  unattainable  by  a  great  part  of  the  community, 
as  in  England ;  and  enabling  the  rich  to  oppress  and  ruin  the  poor. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  has  no  constitutional 
council  (a  thing  unknown  in  any  safe  and  regular  government) 
he  will  therefore  be  unsupported  by  proper  information  and  ad 
vice  ;  and  will  generally  be  directed  by  minions  and  favorites  — 
or  he  will  become  a  tool  to  the  Senate  —  or  a  council  of  state 
will  grow  out  of  the  principal  officers  of  the  great  departments 
—  the  worst  and  most  dangerous  of  all  ingredients  for  such  a 
council,  in  a  free  country ;  for  they  may  be  induced  to  join  in 
any  dangerous  and  oppressive  measures,  to  shelter  themselves, 
and  prevent  an  inquiry  into  their  own  misconduct  in  office.  .  .  . 

The  President  of  the  United  States  has  the  unrestrained 
power  of  granting  pardon  for  treason  ;  which  may  be  sometimes 
exercised  to  screen  from  punishment  those  whom  he  has  secretly 
instigated  to  commit  the  crime,  and  thereby  prevent  a  discovery 
of  his  own  guilt.  .  .  . 

By  requiring  only  a  majority  to  make  all  commercial  and 
navigation  laws,  the  five  southern  states  (whose  product  and  cir 
cumstances  are  totally  different  from  those  of  the  eight  northern 
and  eastern  states)  will  be  ruined  :  for  such  rigid  and  premature 
regulations  may  be  made,  as  will  enable  the  merchants  of  the 
northern  and  eastern  states  not  only  to  demand  an  exorbitant 
freight,  but  to  monopolize  the  purchase  of  the  commodities,  at 
their  own  price,  for  many  years,  to  the  great  injury  of  the 
landed  interest,  and  the  impoverishment  of  the  people.  .  .  . 

The  state  legislatures  are  restrained  from  laying  export  duties 
on  their  own  produce  —  the  general  legislature  is  restrained 
from  prohibiting  the  further  importation  of  slaves  for  twenty 
odd  years,  though  such  importations  render  the  United  States 
weaker,  rnore  vulnerable,  and  less  capable  of  defence.  .  .  . 


i8o  The  New  Republic 

This  government  will  commence  in  a  moderate  aristocracy ; 
it  is  at  present  impossible  to  foresee  whether  it  will,  in  its  opera 
tion,  produce  a  monarchy,  or  a  corrupt  oppressive  aristocracy  ; 
it  will  most  probably  vibrate  some  years  between  the  two,  and 
then  terminate  in  the  one  or  the  other. 

44.  jeffer-          Of  almost  equal  importance  with  the  Declaration  of 

foTthegov-    Independence   and   the   Constitution  was  the  Ordinance 

the'west*     °f  I?^7'  wnicn  furnished  the  model  for  the  government 

1784  of  territories  of  the  United  States.1    This  Ordinance  was 

[140]        based  on  the  following  plan  of  Thomas  Jefferson's,  which 

was   substantially  adopted   by   Congress,    except   for   the 

antislavery  clause  (No.  5,  p.  181),  on  April  23,   1784  : 

[March  22,  1784] 

The  Committee  to  whom  was  recommitted  the  report  of  a 
plan  for  a  temporary  government  of  the  Western  territory  have 
agreed  to  the  following  resolutions. 

Resolved,  that  so  much  of  the  territory  ceded  or  to  be  ceded 
by  individual  states  to  the  United  States  as  is  already  purchased 
or  shall  be  purchased  of  the  Indian  inhabitants  &  offered  for  sale 
by  Congress,  shall  be  divided  into  distinct  states  in  the  following 
manner  .  .  .  [by  degrees  of  latitude  and  meridians  of  longitude] 

That  the  settlers  on  any  territory  so  purchased  &  offered 
for  sale  shall,  either  on  their  own  petition,  or  on  the  order  of 
Congress,  receive  authority  from  them  [Congress]  ...  to  adopt 
the  constitution  and  laws  of  any  one  of  the  original  states,  so 
that  such  laws  nevertheless  shall  be  subject  to  alteration  by 
their  ordinary  legislature ;  &  to  erect,  subject  to  a  like  altera 
tion,  counties  or  townships  for  the  election  of  members  for 
their  legislature. 

That  such  temporary  government  shall  only  continue  in  force 
in  any  state  until  it  shall  have  acquired  20,000  free  inhabitants, 

1  The  Ordinance  of  1787,  or  "  Northwest  Ordinance,''  may  be  found 
in  William  Macdonald,  Select  Documents  of  United  States  History, 
1776-1861,  pp.  21-29.  The  student  should  compare  the  Ordinance 
with  Jefferson's  plan. 


The  Constitution  181 

when  giving  due  proof  thereof  to  Congress,  they  shall  receive 
from  them  [Congress]  authority  with  appointment  of  time  & 
place  to  call  a  convention  of  representatives  to  establish  a  per 
manent  Constitution  and  Government  for  themselves.  Provided 
that  both  the  temporary  and  the  permanent  governments  be 
established  on  these  principles  as  their  basis,  i .  That  they  shall 
forever  remain  a  part  of  this  confederacy  of  the  United  States 
of  America.  2.  That  in  their  persons,  property  &  territory  they 
shall  be  subject  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States  in 
Congress  assembled,  &  to  the  articles  of  Confederation  in  all 
those  cases  in  which  the  original  states  shall  be  so  subject. 
3.  That  they  shall  be  subject  to  pay  a  part  of  the  federal  debts 
contracted  or  to  be  contracted,  to  be  apportioned  on  them  by 
Congress ;  according  to  the  same  common  rule  and  measure, 
by  which  apportionments  thereof  shall  be  made  on  the  other 
states.  4.  That  their  respective  Governments  shall  be  in  repub 
lican  forms  and  shall  admit  no  person  to  be  a  citizen  who  holds 
any  hereditary  title.  5.  That  after  the  year  1800  of  the  Chris 
tian  aera,  there  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude 
in  any  of  the  sd  [said]  states,  otherwise  than  in  punishment  of 
crimes  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  convicted  to  have 
been  personally  guilty. 

That  whensoever  any  of  the  sd  states  shall  have,  of  free  in 
habitants,  as  many  as  shall  then  be  in  any  one  of  the  least 
numerous,  of  the  thirteen  original  states,  such  state  shall  be 
admitted  by  it's  delegates  into  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
on  an  equal  footing  with  the  said  original  states ;  provided  nine 
states  agree  to  such  admission.  .  .  .  Until  such  admission  by 
their  delegates  into  Congress,  any  of  the  said  states  after  the 
establishment  of  their  temporary  government  shall  have  authority 
to  keep  a  sitting  member  in  Congress,  with  a  right  of  debating, 
but  not  of  voting. 

That  the  preceding  articles  shall  be  formed  into  a  charter  of 
compact,  shall  be  duly  executed  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States  in  Congress  assembled,  under  his  hand  &  the  seal  of  the 
United  States,  shall  be  promulgated  &  shall  stand  as  funda 
mental  constitutions  between  the  thirteen  original  states  and 
each  of  the  several  states  now  newly  described,  unalterable  but 


1 82  The  New  Republic 

by  the  joint  consent  of  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled, 
&  of  the  particular  state  within  which  such  alteration  is  pro 
posed  to  be  made. 

That  measures  not  inconsistent  with  the  principles  of  the 
Confed"  &  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  peace  &  good 
order  among  the  settlers  in  any  of  the  said  new  states  until 
they  shall  assume  a  temporary  government  as  aforesaid,  may 
from  time  to  time  be  taken  by  the  U.  S.  in  C.  assembled 


CHAPTER  VII 

FEDERALISTS  AND  REPUBLICANS 

LAUNCHING  THE  GOVERNMENT 

Great  interest  was  shown  in  the  new  republic  of  the  45.  America 
United  States  by  the  people  of  Europe.    We  have  pre-  opportunity 
served  about  forty  books  by  French,  English,  German,       [155] 
and  Italian  travelers  in  this  country  between  the  Revo 
lutionary  War  and  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.    At 
the  close  of  the  war  the  venerable  Benjamin  Franklin,  who 
from  his  long  residence  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  was 
better  qualified  than  any  other  man  living  to  give  advice 
on  America  to  European  emigrants,  wrote  a  tract  called 
"  Information  to  those  who  would  remove  to  America." 

Many  Persons  in  Europe,  having  directly  or  by  Letters,  ex- 
press'd  to  the  Writer  of  this,  who  is  well  acquainted  with  North 
America,  their  Desire  of  transporting  and  establishing  them 
selves  in  that  Country ;  but  who  appear  to  have  formed  thro' 
Ignorance,  mistaken  Ideas  and  Expectations  of  what  is  to  be 
obtained  there ;  he  thinks  it  may  be  useful,  and  prevent  incon 
venient,  expensive,  and  fruitless  Removals  and  Voyages  of  im 
proper  Persons,  if  he  gives  some  clearer  and  truer  Notions  of 
that  part  of  the  World,  than  appear  to  have  hitherto  prevailed. 

He  finds  it  is  imagined  by  Numbers,  that  the  Inhabitants  of 
North -America  are -rich,  capable  of  rewarding  and  disposed  to 
reward,  all  sorts  of  Ingenuity;  that  they  are  at  the  same  time 
ignorant  of  all  the  Sciences,  and,  consequently,  that  Strangers 
possessing  Talents  in  the  Belles-Lettres,  fine  Arts,  &c.,  must 
be  highly  esteemed,  and  so  well  paid  as  to  become  easily  rich 

183 


184  The  New  Republic 

themselves ;  that  there  are  also  abundance  of  profitable  Offices 
to  be  disposed  of,  which  the  Natives  are  not  qualified  to  fill ; 
....  that  the  Governments  too,  to  encourage  Emigration  from 
Europe,  not  only  pay  the  Expence  of  personal  Transportation, 
but  give  Lands  gratis  to  Strangers,  with  Negroes  to  work  for 
them,  Utensils  of  Husbandry,  and  Stocks  of  Cattle.  These 
are  all  wild  Imaginations ;  and  those  who  go  to  America  with 
Expectations  founded  upon  them  will  surely  find  themselves 
disappointed. 

The  Truth  is,  that  though  there  are  in  that  Country  few 
people  so  miserable  as  the  poor  of  Europe,  there  are  also  very 
few  that  in  Europe  would  be  called  rich ;  it  is  rather  a  general 
happy  Mediocrity  that  prevails.  There  are  few  great  Proprietors 
of  the  Soil,  and  few  Tenants ;  most  people  cultivate  their  own 
Lands,  or  follow  some  Handicraft  or  Merchandise.  .  .  .  Letters 
and  Mathematical  knowledge  are  in  Esteem  there  .  .  .  there  being 
already  existing  nine  Colleges  or  Universities,  viz. :  four  in  New 
England,  and  one  in  each  of  the  Provinces  of  New  York,  New 
Jersey,  Pensilvania,  Maryland,  and  Virginia,  all  furnish'd  with 
learned  Professors  ;  besides  a  number  of  smaller  Academies.  .  .  . 
Of  civil  Offices,  or  Employments,  there  are  few ;  no  superflu 
ous  Ones,  as  in  Europe ;  and  it  is  a  Rule  established  in  some 
of  the  States,  that  no  Office  should  be  so  profitable  as  to  make 
it  desirable.  ...  It  cannot  be  worth  any  Man's  while,  who  has 
a  means  of  Living  at  home,  to  expatriate  himself,  in  hopes  of 
obtaining  a  profitable  Civil  Office  in  America. 

Much  less  is  it  advisable  for  a  Person  to  go  thither,  who  has 
no  other  Quality  to  recommend  him  but  his  Birth.  In  Europe 
it  has  indeed  its  Value;  but  it  is  a  Commodity  that 'cannot  be 
carried  to  a  worse  Market  than  that  of  America,  where  people 
do  not  inquire  concerning  a  Stranger,  What  is  he  ?  but,  What 
can  he  do  ?  .  .  .  The  Husbandman  is  in  honor  there,  and  even 
the  Mechanic,  because  their  Employments  are  useful.  The 
People  have  a  saying,  that  God  Almighty  is  himself  a  Mechanic, 
the  greatest  in  the  Universe ;  and  he  is  respected  and  admired 
more  for  the  Variety,  Ingenuity,  and  Utility  of  his  Handyworks, 
than  for  the  Antiquity  of  his  Family.  ...  In  short,  America  is 
the  Land  of  Labour,  and  by  no  means  what  the  English  call 


Federalists  and  Repziblicans  1 8  5 

Lubberland,  and  the  French  Pays  de  Cocagne?  where  the  streets 
are  said  to  be  pav'd  with  half-peck  Loaves,  the  Houses  til'd  with 
Pancakes,  and  where  the  Fowls  fly  about  ready  roasted,  crying, 
Come  eat  me  ! 

Land  being  cheap  in  that  Country,  from  the  vast  Forests  still 
void  of  Inhabitants  ...  so  that  the  Propriety  of  an  hundred 
Acres  of  fertile  Soil  full  of  Wood  may  be  obtained  near  the 
Frontiers,  in  many  Places,  for  Eight  or  Ten  Guineas,  hearty 
young  Laboring  Men,  who  understand  the  Husbandry  of  Corn 
and  Cattle  .  .  .  may  easily  establish  themselves  there.  A  little 
Money  sav'd  of  the  good  Wages  they  receive  there,  while  they 
work  for  others,  enables  them  to  buy  Land  and  begin  their 
Plantation.  .  .  .  Multitudes  of  poor  people  from  England, 
Ireland,  Scotland,  and  Germany,  have  by  this  means  in  a  few 
years  become  wealthy  Farmers.  .  .  . 

In  the  long-settled  Countries  of  Europe,  all  Arts,  Trades, 
Professions,  Farms,  etc.,  are  so  full,  that  it  is  difficult  for  a 
poor  Man,  who  has  Children,  to  place  them  where  they  may 
gain,  or  learn  to  gain,  a  decent  Livelihood.  .  .  .  Hence  Youth 
are  dragg'd  up  in  Ignorance  of  every  gainful  Art,  and  oblig'd 
to  become  Soldiers,  or  Servants,  or  Thieves  for  a  Subsistance. 
In  America  ...  it  is  easy  for  poor  Families  to  get  their  Children 
instructed ;  for  the  Artisans  are  so  desirous  of  Apprentices,  that 
many  of  them  will  even  give  money  to  the  Parents,  to  have 
Boys  from  Ten  to  Fifteen  Years  of  Age  bound  Apprentices  to 
them  till  the  Age  of  Twenty-one.  .  .  . 

Industry  and  constant  Employment  are  great  Preservatives 
of  the  Morals  and  Virtue  of  a  Nation.  Hence  bad  Examples  to 
Youth  are  more  rare  in  America,  which  must  be  a  comfortable 
Consideration  to  Parents.  .  .  .  Atheism  is  unknown  there ;  In 
fidelity  rare  and  secret ;  so-  that  persons  may  live  to  a  great  Age 
in  that  Country  without  having  their  Piety  shocked  by  meeting 
with  either  an  Atheist  or  an  Infidel.  And  the  Divine  Being 
seems  to  have  manifested  his  Approbation  of  the  mutual  For 
bearance  and  Kindness  with  which  the  different  Sects  treat  each 
other,  by  the  remarkable  Prosperity  with  which  He  has  been 
pleased  to  favor  the  whole  Country. 

1  "  Land  of  abundance." 


1 86  The  New  Republic 

In  October,  1787,  immediately  after  the  completion  of 
the  Constitution,  Congress  was  induced  by  land  specu 
lators  to  offer  for  sale  5,000,000  acres  (almost  8000  square 
miles)  of  rich  land  in  the  Ohio  valley,  at  66|  cents  per 
acre.  The  Ohio  Company  purchased  1,500,000  acres,  and 
within  a  month  had  a  party  of  forty-seven  colonists  ready 
to  send  to  the  new  lands.  Professor  McMaster  thus  de 
scribes  the  exciting  days  of  the  migration  : 

Emigration  to  the  West  now  became  the  rage  of  the  time. 
Every  small  farmer  whose  barren  acres  were  covered  with  mort 
gages,  whose  debts  pressed  heavily  upon  him,  or  whose  roving 
spirit  gave  him  no  peace,  was  eager  to  sell  his  homestead  for 
what  it  would  bring,  save  what  he  could  from  the  general  wreck, 
and  begin  life  anew  on  the  banks  of  the  Muskingum  or  the 
Ohio.  And  so  many  did  so  that  at  the  return  of  every  spring 
hundreds  of  boats  went  down  the  Ohio  heavy  with  cattle  and 
household  goods.  One  observer  at  Fort  Pitt  wrote  home  that 
between  the  first  of  March  and  the  middle  of  April  1787,  he 
saw  fifty  flat-boats  set  off  for  the  settlements.  Another  at  Fort 
Finney  saw  thirty-four  boats  pass  in  thirty-nine  days.  .  .  .  An 
other  safe  authority  estimated  that  no  less  than  ten  thousand 
emigrants  went  by  Marietta  in  1788.  ...  In  New  England  the 
success  of  the  Ohio  Company  in  procuring  emigrants  was  im 
mense.  They  advertised,  they  put  out  pamphlets  assuring  the 
people  that  a  man  of  push  and  courage  could  nowhere  be  so 
prosperous  and  so  happy  as  in  the  West.  The  climate  was  de 
lightful.  Rain  was  abundant.  The  soil  rich  and  watered  by 
broad  rivers,  along  whose  banks  were  great  bottoms  and  natural 
meadows  from  twenty  to  fifty  miles  in  circuit.  ...  In  no  long 
time,  therefore,  the  Company's  lumbering  wagon,  with  its  black 
canvas  cover  and  flaming  inscription,  "  To  Marietta  on  the  Ohio," 
became  a  familiar  sight.  At  first  the  departure  of  so  many  men 
from  the  States  was  little  heeded,  for  they  were  believed  to  be 
broken-down  farmers  and  Shayites  going  to  retrieve  their  for 
tunes  and  their  honor  in  the  West.  But  when  it  was  noticed 
that  behind  the  wagon  rode  numbers  of  most  robust  and 


Federalists  and  Republicans  i8/ 

promising  youths,  the  alarm  of  the  people  broke  forth  in  bitter 
complaints.  The  scheme  was  denounced  in  the  coffee-houses  as 
a  wicked  plot  to  drain  the  East  of  its  best  blood.  The  opponents 
of  the  company  put  out  a  number  of  pamphlets  against  it,  and 
wrote  much  bad  verse  on  Cutler  [the  organizer  of  the  Ohio  Com 
pany].  The  poor  fools,  it  was  said,  were  being  enticed  from 
comfortable  homes  under  the  promise  that  they  were  going  to 
a  land  of  more  than  tropical  richness ;  to  a  land  where  they 
should  reap  without  having  sown,  and  gather  without  having 
ploughed.  But  in  truth  the  climate  was  cold,  the  land  sterile  and 
sickly,  and  the  woods  full  of  Indians,  panthers,  and  hoop-snakes.1 

The  Duke  of  Rochefoucauld-Liancourt,  one  of  our 
French  visitors  in  1/95-1/97,  gives  the  following  account 
of  how  a  plucky  Englishwoman,  Mistress  Dash,  took  ad 
vantage  of  the  opportunities  offered  by  America  to  begin 
life  over  again. 

In  one  of  our  boating  trips  about  Northumberland,  with 
Priestly's  son,  we  landed  near  a  wooden  house,  set  on  the  side 
of  a  huge  mountain  covered  with  woods  and  rocks,  and  sepa 
rated  from  the  river  by  sloping  ground  some  dozen  rods  wide. 
This  little  house  is  inhabited  by  an  Englishwoman.  She  has 
three  daughters,  of  whom  the  youngest  only,  a  girl  of  twenty, 
is  with  her.  She  left  England  after  her  husband  went  bankrupt, 
both  to  shun  the  disgrace  of  his  failure  .  .  .  and  to  prepare  a 
retreat  for  him  after  he  should  have  settled  his  accounts.  She 
is  Mistress  Dash,  and  her  husband  is  a  banker  of  Bath,  and 
colonel  of  the  militia  of  his  County.  .  .  . 

It  would  be  impossible  for  a  mortal  to  show  greater  courage 
than  this  woman  has  shown  since  she  bought  this  absolutely 

1  "  I  have  a  distinct  recollection  of  a  picture  which  I  saw  in  boyhood 
prefixed  to  a  penny  anti-moving-to-Ohio  pamphlet,  in  which  a  stoutr 
ruddy,  well-dressed  man  on  a  sleek,  fat  horse  with  a  label,  *  I  am  going 
to  Ohio,'  meets  a  pale  and  ghastly  skeleton  of  a  man,  scarcely  half 
dressed,  on  the  wreck  of  what  was  once  a  horse,  with  a  label,  '  I  have 
been  to  Ohio.'"  —  Walker.  Transactions  of  Historical  and  Philosophical 
Society  of  Ohio,  Part  II,  p.  194. 


1  88 


The  New  Republic 


uncultivated  piece  of  property  of  a  hundred  acres.  Six  months 
ago  there  wasn't  a  hut  on  the  place,  or  a  single  tree  cut.  She 
has  conquered  every  obstacle  ;  and  at  present  she  is  building  a 
stone  house,  in  which  she  will  be  able,  within  a  year,  to  offer 
her  husband  a  comfortable  retreat.  .  .  .  Two  of  her  daughters 
have  married  since  they  came  to  America.  .  .  . 

This  woman's  experience  has  convinced  me  again  of  the  great 
profit  in  the  cultivation  of  new  soil.  Mistress  Dash  bought  her 
hundred  acres  for  two  hundred  and  sixty  five  dollars.  She  has 
cultivated  twenty  acres  .  .  .  and  spent,  in  the  cultivation,  in 
building  house  and  stable,  etc.,  a  thousand  and  sixty  five  dollars. 
.  .  .  Her  twenty  acres  yield  400  bushels  of  grain,  which  is  selling 
this  year  at  ten  shillings  a  bushel.  .  .  .  She  has  therefore  real 
ized  in  the  first  year,  from  only  twenty  acres  of  her  property, 
4000  shillings,  or  533  dollars,  —  almost  half  her  entire  expense, 
counting  the  cost  of  the  acquisition  of  the  property. 

46.  The  in-         On  April  30,  1  789,  George  Washington  took  the  oath 

t^govern^  of  office  as  first  President  of  the  United  States,  and  de 

ment,  1789     Hvered  a  very  formal  speech  to  both  houses  of  -Congress, 

[158]       jn  which  he  protested  his  incapacity  for  the  proper  admin 

istration  of  the  high  office  intrusted  to  him,  begged  his 

fellow    countrymen's    indulgence    for    his    shortcomings, 

and  expressed  his  conviction   that  "  the  preservation   of 

the  sacred  fire  of  liberty  and  the  destiny  of  the  republi 

can  model  of  government"  were  "deeply,  perhaps  finally 

staked  on  the  experiment  intrusted  to  the  hands  of  the 

American  people."    His  secretary,  Mr.  Tobias  Lear,  de 

scribes  the  inauguration  in  his  Diary  : 

April  3oth  —  The  morning  was  employed  in  making  such 
arrangements  as  were  necessary  for  the  ceremonies  of  the  day. 
At  nine  o'clock  all  the  churches  in  the  city  were  opened,  and 
prayers  offered  up  to  the  Great  Ruler  of  the  universe  for  the 
preservation  of  the  President.  At  twelve  the  troops  of  the  city 
paraded  before  our  door,  and,  soon  after,  the  committees  of 
Congress  and  heads  of  departments  came  in  their  carriages  to 


Federalists  and  Republicans  1 89 

wait  upon  the  President  to  the  Federal  Hall.  At  half  past  twelve 
the  procession  moved  forward,  the  troops  marching  in  front  with 
all  the  ensigns  of  military  parade.  Next  came  the  committees 
and  heads  of  departments  in  their  carriages.  Next  the  President 
in  the  state  coach,  and  Colonel  Humphreys  and  myself  in  the 
President's  own  carriage.  The  foreign  ministers  and  a  long  train 
of  citizens  brought  up  the  rear. 

About  two  hundred  yards  before  we  reached  the  hall,  we 
descended  from  our  carriages,  and  passed  through  the  troops, 
who  were  drawn  up  on  each  side,  into  the  Hall  and  Senate- 
Chamber,  where  we  found  the  Vice-President,  the  Senate,  and 
the  House  of  Representatives  assembled.  They  received  the 
President  in  the  most  respectful  manner,  and  the  Vice-President 
conducted  him  to  a  spacious  and  elevated  seat  at  the  head  of 
the  room.  A  solemn  silence  prevailed.  The  Vice-President  soon 
arose  and  informed  the  President  that  all  things  were  prepared 
to  administer  the  oath  whenever  he  should  see  fit  to  proceed  to 
the  balcony  and  receive  it.  He  immediately  descended  from  his 
seat,  and  advanced  through  the  middle  door  of  the  Hall  to  the 
balcony.  The  others  passed  through  the  doors  on  each  side. 
The  oath  was  administered  in  public  by  Chancellor  Livingston ; 
and  the  moment  the  Chancellor  proclaimed  him  President  of  the 
United  States,  the  air  was  rent  by  repeated  shouts  and  huzzas 
—  God  bless  our  Washington  !  Long  live  our  beloved  President ! 
We  again  returned  into  the  Hall,  where,  being  seated  as  before 
for  a  few  moments,  the  President  arose  and  addressed  the  two 
branches  of  Congress  in  a  speech,  which  was  heard  with  eager 
and  marked  attention. 

After  the  President  had  finished  his  speech,  we  proceeded 
from  the  Senate-chamber  on  foot  to  St.  Paul's  church,  in  the 
same  order  that  we  had  observed  in  our  carriages,  where  the 
bishop  read  prayers  suited  to  the  occasion.  We  were  then  met 
at  the  church  door  by  our  carriages,  and  we  went  home. 

In  the  evening  there  was  a  display  of  most  beautiful  fire-works 
and  transparent  paintings  at  the  Battery.  The  President,  Colonel 
Humphreys,  and  myself  went  in  the  beginning  of  the  evening  in 
the  carriages  to  Chancellor  Livingston's  and  General  Knox's, 
where  we  had  a  full  view  of  the  fire-works.  We  returned  home 


190  The  New  Republic 

at  ten  on  foot,  the  throng  of  people  being  so  great  as  not  to 
permit  a  carriage  to  pass  through  it. 

In  spite  of  the  "  repeated  shouts  and  huzzas,"  there  were 
many  who  thought  that  we  were  tending  rapidly  to  an  aris 
tocratic  despotism.  William  Maclay,  Senator  from  Pennsyl 
vania  in  the  first  Congress  of  the  United  States,  has  left 
us  an  acrimonious  journal  of  the  years  1 789-1 791,  in  which 
his  sturdy  republican  principles  and  prejudices  are  expressed 
with  unsparing  frankness. 

3oth  April,  Thursday.  —  This  is  a  great,  important  day.  God 
dess  of  etiquette,  assist  me  while  I  describe  it.  ...  The  Senate 
met.  The  Vice-President  rose  in  the  most  solemn  manner.  This 
son  of  Adam  seemed  impressed  with  deeper  gravity,  yet  what 
shall  I  think  of  him  ?  He  often  in  the  midst  of  his  most  important 
airs  .  .  .  suffers  an  unmeaning  kind  of  vacant  laugh  to  escape 
him.  This  was  the  case  today,  and  really  to  me  bore  the  air  of 
ridiculing  the  farce  he  was  acting.  "  Gentlemen,  I  wish  for  the 
direction  of  the  Senate.  The  President  will,  I  suppose,  address 
the  Congress.  How  shall  I  behave  ?  How  shall  we  receive  it  ? 
Shall  it  be  standing  or  sitting  ? "  .  .  . 

As  the  company  returned  into  the  Senate  chamber  [after  the 
oath],  the  President  took  the  chair.  ...  He  rose  and  addressed 
them.  This  great  man  was  agitated  and  embarrassed  more  than 
ever  he  was  by  the  leveled  cannon  or  pointed  musket.  He 
trembled,  and  several  times  could  scarce  make  out  to  read.  .  .  . 
When  he  came  to  the  words  all  the  world,  he  made  a  flourish 
with  his  right  hand,  which  left  rather  an  ungainly  impression.  I 
sincerely,  for  my  part, .  wished  all  set  ceremony  in  the  hands  of 
the  dancing-masters,  and  that  this  first  of  men  had  read  off  his 
address  in  the  plainest  manner,  without  ever  taking  his  eyes  from 
the  paper,  for  I  felt  hurt  that  he  was  not  first  in  everything. 
He  was  dressed  in  a  deep  brown,  with  metal  buttons,  with  an 
eagle  on  them,  white  stockings,  a  bag  [for  the  hair],  and  sword 

May  i  st  —  Attended  the  Hall  at  eleven.  The  prayers  were  over 
and  the  minutes  reading.  -When  we  came  to  the  minute  of  the 
speech  it  stood,  His  most  gracious  speech.  I  looked  all  around 


Federalists  and  Republicans  191 

the  Senate.  Every  countenance  seemed  to  wear  a  blank.  The 
Secretary  was  going  on  :  I  must  speak  or  nobody  would.  "  Mr. 
President,  we  have  lately  had  a  hard  struggle  for  our  liberty 
against  kingly  authority.  The  minds  of  men  are  still  heated : 
everything  related  to  that  species  of  government  is  odious  to  the 
people.  The  words  prefixed  to  the  President's  speech  are  the 
same  that  are  usually  placed  before  the  speech  of  his  Britannic 
Majesty.  I  know  they  will  give  offense.  I  consider  them  as 
improper.  I  therefore  move  that  they  be  struck  out,  and  that 
it  stand  simply  address  or  speech,  as  may  be  judged  most 
suitable."  .  .  . 

June  nth  —  Dined  this  day  with  Mrs.  Morris.  .  .  .  She  talked 
a, great  deal  after  dinner.  ...  I  have  ever  been  attentive  to  dis 
cover,  if  possible,  General  Washington's  private  opinions  on  the 
pompous  part  of  government.  His  address  of  "  fellow-citizens  " 
to  the  two  Houses  of  Congress  seems  quite  republican.  Mrs. 
Morris,  however,  gave  us  something  on  this  subject.  General 
Washington,  on  a  visit  to  her,  had  declared  himself  in  the  most 
pointed  manner  for  generous  salaries  ;  and  added  that  without 
large  salaries  proper  persons  could  never  be  got  to  Jill  the  offices  of 
government  with  propriety.  He  might  deliver  something  of  this 
kind  with  propriety  enough  without  using  the  word  "  large." 
However,  if  he  lives  with  the  pompous  people  of  New  York,  he 
must  be  something  more  than  human  if  their  high-toned  manners 
have  not  some  effect  on  him.  .  .  . 

August  2  ;th  —  Thursday.  Senate  adjourned  early.  At  a  little 
after  four  I  called  on  Mr.  Bassett,  of  the  Delaware  State.  We 
went  to  the  President's  to  dinner.  .  .  .  The  President  and  Mrs. 
Washington  sat  opposite  each  other  in  the  middle  of  the  table  ; 
the  two  secretaries,  one  at  each  end.  It  was  a  great  dinner,  and 
the  best  of  the  kind  I  ever  was  at.  The  room,  however,  was 
disagreeably  warm.  First  was  the  soup  ;  fish  roasted  and  boiled ; 
meats,  gammon,  fowls  etc.  This  was  the  dinner.  . . .  The  desert 
was,  first  apple-pies,  pudding  etc. ;  then  iced-creams,  jellies,  etc. ; 
then  water-melons,  musk-melons,  apples,  peaches,  nuts. 

It  was  the  most  solemn  dinner  I  ever  sat  at.  Not  a  health 
drank  ;  scarce  a  word  said  until  the  cloth  was  taken  away.  Then 
the  President,  filling  a  glass  of  wine,  with  great  formality,  drank 


1 92  The  New  Republic 

to  the  health  of  every  individual  by  name  round  the  table.  Every 
body  imitated  him,  charged  glasses,  and  such  a  buzz  of  "  health, 
sir,"  and  "  health,  madam,"  and  "  thank  you,  sir,"  and  "  thank 
you,  madam,"  never  had  I  heard  before.  .  .  .  Mrs.  Washington 
at  last  withdrew  with  the  ladies. 

I  expected  the  men  would  now  begin,  but  the  same  stillness 
remained.  The  President  told  of  a  New  England  clergyman  who 
had  lost  a  hat  and  wig  in  passing  a  river  called  the  Brunks.  He 
smiled,  and  everybody  else  laughed.  He  now  and  then  said  a 
sentence  or  two  on  some  common  subject,  and  what  he  said  was 
not  amiss.  .  .  .  There  was  a  Mr.  Smith  who  mentioned  how 
Homer  described  sEneas  leaving  his  wife  and  carrying  his  father 
out  of  flaming  Troy  .  .  .  but  if  he  had  ever  read  it  he  would  haye 
said  Virgil.  The  President  kept  a  fork  in  his  hand,  when  the 
cloth  was  taken  away,  I  thought  for  the  purpose  of  picking  nuts. 
He  ate  no  nuts,  however,  but  played  with  the  fork,  striking  on 
the  edge  of  the  table  with  it.  We  did  not  sit  long  after  the  ladies 
retired.  The  President  rose,  went  up  stairs  to  drink  coffee  ;  the 
company  followed.  I  took  my  hat  and  came  home. 

When  Thomas  Jefferson  returned  from  France  to  take 
up  his  duties  as  Secretary  of  State  in  Washington's  cabinet 
(March,  1790),  Alexander  Hamilton  was  already  well  along 
in  the  development  of  his  plans  for  strengthening  the 
financial  status  of  the  government.1  When  Washington 
requested  from  his  cabinet  written  opinions  on  the  subject 
of  the  charter  of  a  national  bank,  Jefferson  submitted  the 
following  paper  (February  15,  1791) : 

...  I  consider  the  foundation  of  the  Constitution  as  laid  on 
this  ground :  That  "  all  powers  not  delegated  to  the  United 
States,  by  the  Constitution,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States, 
are  reserved  to  the  States  or  to  the  people  "  [Amendment  X]. 
To  take  a  single  step  beyond  the  boundaries  thus  specially 
drawn  around  the  powers  of  Congress,  is  to  take  possession  of 

1  For  Hamilton's  measures  see  Muzzey,  An  American  History, 
pp.  159-162. 


Federalists  and  Republicans  193 

a  boundless  field  of  power,  no  longer  susceptible  of  any  defi 
nition.  The  incorporation  of  a  bank,  and  the  powers  assumed  by 
this  bill,  have  not,  in  my  opinion,  been  delegated  to  the  United 
States  by  the  Constitution. 

I.  They  are  not  among  the  powers  specially  enumerated: 
for  these  are :  ist  A  power  to  lay  taxes  for  the  purpose  of  pay 
ing  the  debts  of  the  United  States  [Art.  I,  Sect.  VIII] ;  but  no 
debt  is  paid  by  this  bill,  nor  any  tax  laid.  Were  it  a  bill  to  raise 
money,  its  origination  in  the  Senate  would  condemn  it  by  the 
Constitution  [Art.  I,  Sect.  VII]. 

2d.  "To  borrow  money."  But  this  bill  neither  borrows  money 
nor  ensures  the  borrowing  of  it.  The  proprietors  of  the  bank 
will  be  just  as  free  as  any  other  money  holders,  to  lend  or  not  to 
lend  their  money  to  the  public.  The  operation  proposed  in  the 
bill,  first  to  lend  them  two  millions,  and  then  to  borrow  them  back 
again,  cannot  change  the  nature  of  the  latter  act,  which  will  still 
be  a  payment,  and  not  a  loan,  call  it  by  what  name  you  please. 

3.  "To  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among 
the  States,  and  with  the  Indian  tribes."  To  erect  a  bank,  and 
to  regulate  commerce,  are  very  different  acts.  He  who  erects 
a  bank,  creates  a  subject  of  commerce  in  its  bills ;  so  does  he 
who  makes  a  bushel  of  wheat,  or  digs  a  dollar  out  of  the  mines ; 
yet  neither  of  these  persons  regulates  commerce  thereby.  To 
make  a  thing  which  may  be  bought  and  sold,  is  not  to  prescribe 
regulations  for  buying  and  selling.  Accordingly,  the  bill  does 
not  propose  the  measure  as  a  regulation  of  trade,  but  as  "  pro 
ductive  of  considerable  advantages  to  trade."  Still  less  are  these 
powers  covered  by  any  other  of  the  special  enumerations. 

II.  Nor  are  they  within  either  of  the  general  phrases,  which 
are  the  two  following : 1  — 

i.  To  lay  taxes  to  provide  for  the  general  welfare  of  the 
United  States.  That  is  to  say,  "  to  lay  taxes  for  the  purpose  of 
providing  for  the  general  welfare."  .  .  .  They  are  not  to  lay 

1  The  second  of  the  "  general  phrases  "  is  "  to  make  all  laws  which 
shall  be  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into  execution  "  the  enu 
merated  powers.  Jefferson  argues  on  this  point  that  the  convenience  the 
bank  might  be  in  the  collection  of  taxes  is  not  proof  of  either  its  necessity 
or  \\&  propriety . 


The  New  Republic 

taxes  ad  libitum  for  any  purpose  they  please;  but  only  to  pay  the 
debts  or  provide  for  the  welfare  of  the  Union.  In  like  manner, 
they  are  not  to  do  anything  they  please  to  provide  for  the  general 
welfare,  but  only  to  lay  taxes  for  that  purpose.  To  consider  the 
latter  phrase,  not  as  describing  the  purpose  of  the  first,  but  as 
giving  a  distinct  and  independent  power  to  do  any  act  they 
please,  which  might  be  for  the  good  of  the  Union,  would  render 
all  the  preceding  and  subsequent  enumeration  of  power  com 
pletely  useless.  It  would  reduce  the  whole  instrument  to  a  single 
phrase,  that  of  instituting  a  Congress  with  power  to  do  whatever 
would  be  for  the  good  of  the  United  States ;  and  as  they  would 
be  the  sole  judges  of  the  good  or  evil,  it  would  be  also  a  power 
to  do  whatever  evil  they  please. 

It  is  an  established  rule  of  construction  where  a  phrase  will 
bear  either  of  two  meanings,  to  give  it  that  which  will  allow 
some  meaning  to  the  other  parts  of  the  instrument,  and  not  that 
which  would  render  all  the  others  useless.  Certainly  no  such 
universal  power  was  meant  to  be  given  them.  It  was  intended 
to  lace  them  up  straitly  within  the  enumerated  powers,  and  those 
without  which,  as  means,  these  powers  could  not  be  carried  into 
effect 

Hamilton  carried  Congress  with  him  on  the  bank,  fund 
ing,  and  tariff  bills,  in  spite  of  the  able  opposition  led  by 
Jefferson.  In  the  spring  of  1792  he  unbosomed  him 
self  to  his  friend  Colonel  Edward  Carrington  in  a  long 
letter,  intended  perhaps  primarily  to  exhibit  Jefferson  to 
the  people  of  his  own  state  in  his  true  light,  and  to  ex 
plain  to  the  Virginia  Federalists  why  he  had  broken  with 
Madison  and  attacked  Jefferson. 

Philadelphia,  May  26,  1702 
My  dear  Sir : 

Believing  that  I  possess  a  share  of  your  personal  friendship 
and  confidence,  and  yielding  to  that  which  I  feel  toward  you  ; 
persuaded  also,  that  our  political  creed  is  the  same  on  two  essen 
tial  points  —  first  the  necessity  of  Union  to  the  respectability 
and  happiness  of  this  country,  and  second,  the  necessity  of  an 


Federalists  and  Republicans  195 

efficient  general  government  to  maintain  the  Union,  I  have  con 
cluded  to  unbosom  myself  to  you  on  the  present  state  of 
political  parties  and  views.  .  .  . 

It  was  not  till  the  last  session  that  I  became  unequivocally 
convinced  of  the  following  truth :  "  that  Mr.  Madison,  cooper 
ating  with  Mr.  Jefferson,  is  at  the  head  of  a  faction  decidedly 
hostile  to  me  ant!  my  administration;  and  actuated  jpy  views, 
in  my  judgment,  subversive  of  the  principles  of  good  govern 
ment  and  dangerous  to  the  Union,  peace,  and  happiness  of  the 
country." 

Mr.  Jefferson,  with  very  little  reserve,  manifests  his  dislike  of 
the  funding  system  generally  ...  I  do  not  mean  that  he  advo 
cates  directly  the  undoing  of  what  has  been  done,  but  he  cen 
sures  the  whole  on  principles  which,  if  they  should  become 
general,  could  not  but  end  in  the  subversion  of  the  system.  In 
various  conversations,  with  foreigners  as  well  as  citizens,  he  has 
thrown  censure  on  my  principles  of  government  and  on  my 
measures  of  administration.  He  has  predicted  that  the  people 
would  not  long  tolerate  my  proceedings.  .  .  .  Some  of  those 
whom  he  immediately  and  notoriously  moves  have  even  whis 
pered  suspicions  of  the  rectitude  of  my  motives  and  conduct.  .  .  . 
When  any  turn  of  things  in  the  community  has  threatened  either 
odium  or  embarrassment  to  me,  he  has  not  been  able  to  suppress 
the  satisfaction  which  it  gave  him.  .  .  . 

I  find  strong  confirmation  in  the  following  circumstances : 
Freneau,  the  present  printer  of  the  National  Gazette  .  .  .  was  a 
known  Anti-federalist.  It  is  reduced  to  a  certainty  that  he  was 
brought  to  Philadelphia  by  Mr.  Jefferson  to  be  the  conductor 
of  a  newspaper.  It  is  notorious  that  contemporarily  with  the 
commencement  of  his  paper  he  was  a  clerk  in  the  Department 
of  State,  for  foreign  languages.  Hence  a  clear  inference  that  his 
paper  has  been  set  on  foot  and  is  conducted  under  the  patron 
age  and  not  against  the  views  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  What  then  is 
the  complexion  of  this  paper?  Let  any  impartial  man  peruse 
the  numbers  down  to  the  present  day,  and  I  never  was  more 
mistaken  if  he  does  not  pronounce  that  it  is  a  paper  devoted 
to  the  subversion  of  me  and  the  measures  in  which  I  have  an 
agency ;  and  I  am  little  less  mistaken  if  he  does  not  pronounce 


196  The  New  Republic 

that  it  is  a  paper  of  a  tendency  generally  unfriendly  to  the 
government  of  the  United  States.1  .  .  . 

In  almost  all  the  questions,  great  and -small,  which  have  arisen 
since  the  first  session  of  Congress,  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Madi 
son  have  been  found  among  those  who  are  disposed  to  narrow 
the  federal  authority.  ...  In  respect  to  foreign  politics,  the 
views  of  tfrese  gentlemen  are,  in  my  judgment,  equally  [unjsound 
and  dangerous.  They  have  a  womanish  attachment  to  France 
and  a  womanish  resentment  against  Great  Britain.  They  would 
draw  us  into  the  closest  embrace  of  the  former,  and  involve  us 
in  all  the  consequences  of  her  politics.2 .  .  .  This  disposition  goes 
to  a  length,  particularly  in  Mr.  Jefferson,  of  which,  till  lately,  I 
had  no  idea.  ...  If  these  gentlemen  were  left  to  pursue  their 
own  course,  there  would  be,  in  less  than  six  months,  an  open 
war  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain.  .  .  . 

Mr.  Jefferson,  it  is  known,  did  not  in  the  first  instance  cor 
dially  acquiesce  in  the  new  Constitution  for  the  United  States ; 
he  had  many  doubts  and  reserves.  He  left  this  country  [1784] 
before  we  had  experienced  the  imbecillities  of  the  former 
[Constitution,  i.  e.  the  Articles  of  Confederation],  .  .  . 

In  France,  he  saw  government  only  on  the  side  of  its  abuses. 
He  drank  freely  of  the  French  philosophy,  in  religion,  in  science, 
in  politics.  He  came  from  France  in  the  moment  of  a  f ermenta- 
tion  which  he  had  a  share  in  exciting.  .  .  .  He  came  electrified 
with  attachment  to  France,  and  with  the  project  of  knitting 
together  the  two  countries  in  the  closest  political  bands.  .  .  . 

Another  circumstance  has  contributed  to  widening  the  breach 
[in  American  politics].  'Tis  evident  beyond  a  question  .  .  .  that 
Mr.  Jefferson  aims  with  ardent  desire  at  the  Presidential  chair. 
This  too  is  an  important  object  of  the  party-politics.  .  .  . 

1  Specimens  of  the  satirical  and  serious  criticism  of  Washington's 
administration  which  appeared  in  the  National  Gazette  are  given  by 
A.  B.  Hart  in  his  American  History  told  by  Contemporaries,  Vol.  Ill, 
pp.  293  and  305. 

2  Hamilton  wrote  this  letter  about  a  month  after  France,  by  declar 
ing  war  against  Austria  and  Prussia,  opened  the  quarter  century  of 
strife  which  convulsed  Europe  from  Russia  to  Portugal. 


.    Federalists  and  Republicans  197 

A  word  on  another  point.  I  am  told  that  serious  apprehen 
sions  are  disseminated  in  your  State  as  to  the  existence  of  a 
monarchical  party  meditating  the  destruction  of  State  and  re 
publican  government.  If  it  is  possible  that  so  absurd  an  idea 
can  gain  ground,  it  is  necessary  that  it  should  be  combatted.  .  .  .* 
A  very  small  number  of  men  indeed  may  entertain  theories  less 
republican  than  Mr.  Jefferson  and  Mr.  Madison,  but  I  am  per 
suaded  that  there  is  not  a  man  among  them  who  would  not 
regard  as  both  criminal  and  visionary  any  attempt  to  subvert 
the  republican  system  of  the  country.  ...  As  to  the  destruc 
tion  of  State  governments,  the  great  and  real  anxiety  is  to  be 
able  to  preserve  the  national  from  the  too  potent  and  counter 
acting  influence  of  those  governments.  As  to  my  own  polit 
ical  creed,  I  give  it  to  you  with  the  utmost  sincerity.  I  am 
affectionately  attached  to  the  republican  theory.  I  desire  above 
all  things  to  see  the  equality  of  political  rights,  exclusive  of  all 
hereditary  distinction.  .  ,  . 


THE  REIGN  OF  FEDERALISM 

When  the  news  of  war  between  the  French  Republic  48.  The  neu- 
and  Great  Britain  reached  America,  President  Washing-  Jmltlon^' 
ton,   in  view  of  our  close  relations  with   France  in  the  APril  22>  X793 
Revolutionary  War  and  of  the  treaty  of  1778,  which  bound       I1651 
us  to  an  alliance  with  that  nation  (see  No.  37,  p.  143),  sub 
mitted  the  following  list  of  questions  to  each  member  of 
his  cabinet,  "preparatory,"  he  writes,  "  to  a  meeting  at 
my  house  tomorrow,  where  I  shall  expect  to  see  you  at 
9  o'clock,  and  to  receive  the  result  of  your  reflections 
thereon." 

1  Three  days  before  Hamilton  wrote  this,  Jefferson  sent  a  letter  to 
Washington,  in  which  the  following  sentence  occurs  :  "  This  has  been 
brought  about  by  the  Monarchical  federalists  themselves,  who  having 
been  for  the  new  government  merely  as  a  stepping  stone  to  monarchy," 
Jefferson,  Writings,  ed.  P.  L.  Ford,  Vol.  VI,  p.  5. 


198  The  New  Republic 

Philadelphia,  18  April,  1793 

I.  Shall  a  proclamation  issue  for  the  purpose  of  preventing 
interferences  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  in  the  war 
between  France  and  Great  Britain  &c.  ?    Shall  it  contain  a  decla 
ration  of  neutrality  or  not  ?    What  shall  it  contain  ? 

II.  Shall  a  minister  from  the  Republic  of  France  be  received  ? 

III.  If  received,  shall  it  be  absolutely  or  with  qualifications ; 
and  if  with  qualifications,  of  what  kind  ? 

IV.  Are  the  United  States  obliged  by  good  faith  to  consider 
the  treaties  heretofore  made  with  France  as  applying  to  the 
present  situation  of  the  parties  ?     May  they  either  renounce 
them,  or  hold  them  suspended  till  the  government  of  France 
shall  be  established^. 

V.  If  they  have  the  right,  is  it  expedient  to  do  either,  and 
which  ? 

VI.  If  they  have  an  option,  would  it  be  a  breach  of  neutrality 
to  consider  the  treaties  still  in  operation  ? 

VII.  If  the  treaties  are  to  be  considered  as  now  in  operation, 
is  the  guarantee  in  the  treaty  of  alliance  applicable  to  a  defensive 
war  only,  or  to  war  either  offensive  or  defensive  ? 

VIII.  Does  the  war  in  which  France  is  engaged  appear  to 
be  offensive  or  defensive  on  her  part?    Or  of  a  mixed  and 
equivocal  character  ? 

IX.  If  of  a  mixed  and  equivocal  character,  does  the  guarantee 
in  any  event  apply  to  such  a  war  ? 

X.  What  is  the  effect  of  a  guarantee  such  as  that  to  be  found 
in  the  treaty  of  alliance  between  the  United  States  and  France  ? 

XL  Does  any  article  in  either  of  the  treaties  prevent  ships 
of  war,  other  than  privateers,  of  the  powers  opposed  to  France 
from  coming  into  the  ports  of  the  United  States  to  act  as  con 
voys  to  their  own  merchantmen  ? 

XII.  Should  the  future  regent  of  France  send  a  minister  to 
the  United  States,  ought  he  to  be  received  ? 

XIII.  Is  it  necessary  or  advisable  to  call  together  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress,  with  a  view  to  the  present  posture  of 
European  affairs?  .  .  . 


Federalists  and  Republicans  199 

Jefferson  drew  up  the  following  memorandum  of  the 
replies  to  these  questions : 

At  a  meeting  of  the  heads  of  departments  and  the  attorney- 
general  at  the  President's,  April  19,  1793,  to  consider  the  fore 
going  questions  proposed  by  the  President,  it  was  determined 
by  all,  on  the  first  question,  that  a  proclamation  shall  issue 
forbidding  our  citizens  to  take  part  in  any  hostilities  on  the 
seas,  with  or  against  any  of  the  belligerent  powers  ;  and  warning 
them  against  carrying  to  any  such  powers  any  of  those  articles 
deemed  contraband,  according  to  the  modern  usage  of  nations ; 
and  enjoining  them  from  all  acts  and  proceedings  inconsistent 
with  the  duties  of  a  friendly  nation  towards  those  at  war. 

On  the  second  question,  "  Shall  a  minister  from  the  Republic 
of  France  be  received?"  it  was  unanimously  agreed,  that  he 
shall  be  received. 

The  remaining  questions  were  postponed  for  further  con 
sideration. 

President  Washington  accordingly  issued  the  following 
proclamation  : 

Whereas  it  appears,  that  a  state  of  war  exists  between  Austria, 
Prussia,  Sardinia,  Great  Britain,  and  the  United  Netherlands, 
on  the  one  part,  and  France  on  the  other  [see  p.  196,  note  2] ; 
and  the  duty  and  interest  of  the  United  States  require,  that  they 
should  with  sincerity  and  good  faith  adopt  and  pursue  a  conduct 
friendly  and  impartial  towards  the  belligerent  powers ; 

I  have  therefore  thought  fit  by  these  presents  to  declare  the 
disposition  of  the  United  States  to  observe  the  conduct  afore 
said  towards  those  powers  respectively,  and  to  exhort  and  warn 
the  citizens  of  the  United  States  carefully  to  avoid  all  acts  and 
proceedings  whatsoever,  which  may  in  any  manner  tend  to 
contravene  such  disposition. 

And  I  do  hereby  also  make  known,  that  whosoever  of  the 
United  States  shall  render  himself  liable  to  punishment  or  for 
feiture  under  the  laws  of  nations,  by  committing,  aiding,  or 
1  abetting  hostilities  against  any  of  the  said  powers,  or  by  carry 
ing  to  any  of  them  those  articles,  which  are  deemed  contraband 


200  The  New  Republic 

by  the  modern  usage  of  nations,  will  not  receive  the  protection 
of  the  United  States  against  such  punishment  or  forfeiture ; 
and  further  that  I  have  given  instructions  to  those  officers,  to 
whom  it  belongs,  to  cause  prosecutions  to  be  instituted  against 
all  persons,  who  shall  within  the  cognizance  of  the  courts  of 
the  United  States  violate  the  law  of  nations  with  respect  to  the 
powers  at  war,  or  any  of  them. 

In  testimony  whereof  I  have  caused  the  seal  of  the  United 
States  of  America  to  be  affixed  to  these  presents,  and  signed 
the  same  with  my  hand.  Done  at  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  the 
22d  day  of  April,  1793,  and  of  the  independence  of  the  United 
States  of  America  the  seventeenth. 

49.  The  When  on  top  of  the  Neutrality  Proclamation,  Washing- 

XYZ  mes-  ,  ,     ,        T 

sage,  Aprils,  ton  s  government  negotiated  the  Jay  treaty  with  England 
I798  (1794),  the  French  Jacobins  were  persuaded  that  we  were 

hostile  to  their  new  republic.  Their  indignation  was  fur 
ther  roused  when  the  ardent  republican  minister,  James 
Monroe,  was  recalled  by  Washington  in  the  summer  of 
1796  for  overstepping  his  instructions  "  to  show  our  con 
fidence  in  the  French  Republic,  without  betraying  the  most 
remote  mark  of  undue  complaisance."  *  The  ill  feeling 
reached  its  culmination  when  the  French  Directory  insulted 

1  W.  H.  Trescott,  The  Diplomatic  History  of  the  Administrations 
of  Washington  and  Adams,  p.  151.  Trescott  prints  (p.  177)  the  letter 
written  by  the  Directory  (the  executive  officials  of  France  under  the 
Constitution  of  1795-1799)  to  Monroe  when  he  was  recalled.  It  is  dated 
December  n,  1796,  and  informs  Monroe  that  the  Directors  "will  not 
acknowledge  nor  receive  another  Minister  Plenipotentiary  from  the 
United  States,  until  after  the  redress  of  the  grievances  demanded  of  the 
American  government,  and  which  the  French  Republic  has  a  right  to 
expect  from  it."  The  "  grievance  "  was  the  negotiation  of  the  Jay  treaty, 
which  the  French  looked  on  as  the  annulment  of  their  treaty  of  1778 
with  the  United  States.  When  Monroe  returned  to  America  he  published 
a  long  pamphlet  in  vindication  of  his  conduct  as  Minister  at  Paris,  which 
he  called  "  A  View  of  the  Conduct  of  the  Executive  .  .  .  connected  with 
the  mission  to  the  French  Republic  during  the  years  1794,  5  and  6."  * 
—  Monroe,  Writings,  ed.  S.  M.  Hamilton,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  383-457. 


Federalists  and  Republicans  2O  I 

the  commissioners  whom  President  Adams  sent  to  Paris  in 
1797  to  attempt  to  restore  amity.  The  story  is  told  in  the 
following  dispatch  from  the  commissioners  at  Paris  to  the 
Secretary  of  State,  which  was  communicated  to  Congress 
by  President  Adams  on  March  3,  1798  : 

Paris,  October  22,  1797 


All  of  us  having  arrived  at  Paris,  on  the  evening  of  the 
4th  instant,  on  the  next  day  we  verbally  and  unofficially  in 
formed  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  therewith,  and  desired 
to  know  when  he  would  be  at  leisure  to  receive  one  of  our 
secretaries  with  the  official  notification.  He  appointed  the  next 
day,  at  two  o'clock,  when  Major  Rutledge  waited  on  him  with 
the  following  letter  : 

Citizen  Minister  :  The  United  States  of  America  being  desirous 
of  terminating  all  differences  between  them  and  the  French  Republic 
.  .  .  the  President  has  nominated,  and,  by  and  with  the  consent  of 
the  Senate,  has  appointed  us,  the  undersigned  .  .  .  Envoys  Extraor 
dinary  and  Ministers  Plenipotentiary  to  the  French  Republic,  for 
the  purpose  of  accomplishing  this  great  object.  .  .  .  We  wish,  Citizen 
Minister,  to  wait  on  you  at  any  hour  you  will  be  pleased  to  appoint, 
to  present  the  copy  of  our  letters  of  credence  ;  and  whilst  we  evince 
our  sincere  and  ardent  desire  for  the  speedy  restoration  of  friendship 
and  harmony  between  the  two  Republics,  we  flatter  ourselves  with 
your  concurrence  in  the  accomplishment  of  this  desirable  event.  .  .  . 

Charles  C.  Pinckney 
John  Marshall 

Paris,  October  6  Elbridge  ^^ 

To  this  letter  the  Minister  gave  a  verbal  answer  that  he 
would  see  us  the  day  after  the  morrow  (the  8th)  at  one  o'clock. 
Accordingly  at  that  day  and  hour  we  waited  on  the  Minister  at 
his  house.  .  .  .  He  informed  us  "  that  the  Directory  had  required 
him  to  make  a  report  relative  to  the  situation  of  the  United 
States  with  regard  to  France,  .  .  .  which  would  be  finished  in 
a  few  days,  when  he  would  let  us  know  what  steps  were  to 
follow."  .  .  .  The  next  day  cards  of  hospitality  were  sent  us 
and  our  secretaries,  in  a  style  suitable  to  our  official  character.  .  .  . 


202  The  New  Republic 

In  the  morning  of  October  the  i8th,  M.  W1  called  on  General 
Pinckney  and  informed  him  that  a  M.  X  who  was  in  Paris, 
and  whom  the  General  had  seen  was  a  gentleman  of  consider 
able  credit  and  reputation  and  that  we  might  place  great  reli 
ance  on  him. 

In  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  M.  X  called  on  General 
Pinckney,  and  after  having  sat  some  time  whispered  to  him 
that  he  had  a  message  from  M.  Talleyrand  to  communicate 
when  he  was  at  leisure.  .  .  .  General  Pinckney  said  that  he 
should  be  glad  to  hear  it.  M.  X  replied  that  the  Directory, 
and  particularly  two  of  the  members  of  it,  were  exceedingly 
irritated  at  some  passages  of  the  President's  Speech,2  and  de 
sired  that  they  should  be  softened,  and  that  this  step  would  be 
necessary  previous  to  our  reception.  That,  besides  this,  a  sum 
of  money  was  required  for  the  pocket  of  the  Directory  and 
Ministers  which  would  be  at  the  disposal  of  M.  Talleyrand ; 
and  that  a  loan  would  also  be  insisted  on.  M.  X  said  that  if 
we  acceded  to  these  measures,  M.  Talleyrand  had  no  doubt 
that  all  our  differences  with  France  might  be  accommodated. 
On  inquiry,  M.  X  could  not  point  out  the  particular  passages 
of  the  Speech  that  had  given  offence,  nor  the  quantum  of  the 
loan,  but  mentioned  that  the  douceur  for  the  pocket,  was 
1,200,000  livres,  about  50,000  pounds  sterling.  .  .  . 

On  the  morning  of  the  20th  M.  X  called  and  said  that  M.  Y, 
the  confidential  friend  of  M.  Talleyrand,  instead  of  communi 
cating  with  us  through  M.  X,  would  see  us  himself  and  make 

1  The  names  of  the  agents  who  dealt  with  our  Commissioners  were 
given  in  the  report  from  Paris,  but  Secretary  of  State  Pickering  with 
held  them  in  the  documents  he  submitted  to  Congress,  supplying  their 
places  by  the  letters   W,  X,   Y,  and  Z.    The  M.  before  these  letters  in 
the  text  stands  for  the  French  word  Monsieur  (Mr.). 

2  The  speech  to  the  special  session  of  Congress,  convened  May  16, 
1797.    In  it  Adams  reviews  the  behavior  of  France,  and  says  that  it 
"  ought  to  be  repelled  with  a  decision  which  shall  convince  France  and 
the  world  that  we  are  not  a  degraded  people,  humiliated  under  a  colonial 
spirit  of  fear,  and  sense  of  inferiority,  fitted  to  be  the  miserable  instru 
ments  of  foreign  influence,  and  regardless  of  national  honor,  character, 
and  interest."  —  Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents, 
Vol.  I,  p.  235. 


Federalists  and  Republicans  203 

the  necessary  explanations.  We  appointed  to  meet  him  the 
evening  of  the  20th  at  seven  o'clock,  in  General  Marshall's 
room.  At  seven  M.  Y  and  M.  X  entered.  ...  M.  Y  stated  to 
us  explicitly  and  repeatedly  that  he  was  clothed  with  no  author 
ity,  that  he  was  not  a  diplomatic  character,  that  he  was  only 
the  friend  of  M.  Talleyrand,  and  trusted  by  him.  .  .  .  He  then 
took  out  of  his  pocket  a  French  translation  of  the  President's 
speech,  the  parts  of  which,  objected  to  by  the  Directory  were 
marked.  ...  On  reading  the  speech,  M.  Y  dilated  very  much 
upon  the  keenness  of  the  resentment  that  it  had  produced,  and 
expatiated  largely  on  the  satisfaction  he  said  was  indispensably 
necessary  as  a  preliminary  to  negotiation.  "  But,"  said  he,  "Gen 
tlemen,  I  will  not  disguise  from  you  that,  this  satisfaction  being 
made,  the  essential  part  of  the  treaty  remains  to  be  adjusted ; 
il  faut  de  1'argent  —  il  faut  beaucoup  d'argent ;  "  you  must  pay 
money,  you  must  pay  a  great  deal  of  money.  He  spoke  much  of 
the  force,  the  honor,  and  the  jealous  republican  pride  of  France; 
and  represented  to  us  strongly  the  advantage  we  should  derive 
from  the  neutrality  thus  to  be  purchased.  He  said  that  the 
receipt  of  the  money  might  be  so  disguised  as  to  prevent  its 
being  considered  a  breach  of  neutrality  by  England,  and  thus 
save  us  from  being  embroiled  with  that  Power.  .  .  .  These 
propositions  being  considered  .  .  .  M.  Talleyrand  trusted  that, 
by  his  influence  with  the  Directory,  he  could  prevail  on  the 
Government  to  receive  us.  .  .  . 

The  nature  of  the  above  communication  will  evince  the  neces 
sity  of  secrecy ;  and  we  have  promised  Messrs.  X  and  Y  that 
their  names  shall  in  no  event  be  made  public. 

We  have  the  honor  to  be  etc.,  C.  C.  Pinckney 

J.  Marshall 
E.  Gerry 

M.  Talleyrand  advised  Pinckney  and  Marshall  to  "  quit  so.  A  plea 
the  territory  of  the  French  Republic  "  and  let  him  carry  October*', 
on  negotiations  with  Gerry  (the  democratic  member  of  the  I7p8 
commission)  alone.    When  Adams   heard   of  this   high-       I1711 
handed   "diplomacy,"   he   wrote   to   Congress   (June   21, 


204  The  New  Republic 

1798):  "I  will  never  send  another  Minister  to  France 
without  assurances  that  he  will  be  received,  respected,  and 
honored  as  the  representative  of  a  great,  free,  powerful, 
and  independent  nation."  Preparations  for  war  were  made, 
and  George  Washington  was  appointed  commander  of 
the  army.  Joel  Barlow,  who  had  gone  to  Paris  ten  years 
earlier  as  agent  for  the  Ohio  Land  Company  (see  p.  186 
above),  wrote  the  following  letter  to  Washington  in  the 
vain  attempt  to  stave  off  the  war  : 

Paris,  2d  October,  1798 

oIR, 

On  hearing  of  your  nomination,  for  the  second  time,  as  com 
mander  in  chief  of  the  American  armies,  I  rejoice  at  it ;  not 
because  I  believe  that  the  war  which  this  nomination  contem 
plates  is  yet  unavoidable,  and  that  it  will  furnish  an  occasion 
for  the  further  display  of  your  military  talents ;  but  because  it 
may  enable  you  to  exert  your  influence  to  a  greater  effect  in 
preventing  the  war.  .  .  . 

Perhaps  few  men  who  cannot  pretend  to  have  been  in  the 
secrets  of  either  government,  are  in  a  better  situation  than 
myself  to  judge  of  the  motives  of  both;  to  assign  the  true 
causes  of  their  unhappy  misunderstanding ;  or  to  appreciate 
their  present  dispositions,  pretensions,  and  wishes.  I  am  cer 
tain  no  one  labors  more  sincerely  for  the  restoration  of  harmony, 
on  terms  honorable  to  the  United  States,  and  advantageous  to 
the  cause  of  liberty. 

I  will  not  in  this  place  go  over  the  history  of  past  transactions. 
It  would  be  of  little  use.  The  object  is  to  seize  the  malady  in 
its  present  state,  and  try  to  arrest  its  progress.  The  dispute  at 
this  moment  may  be  characterized  simply  and  literally  a  mis 
understanding.  I  cannot  persuade  myself  to  give  it  a  harsher 
name,  as  it  applies  to  either  government.  It  is  clear  that  neither 
of  them  has  an  interest  in  going  to  war  with  the  other ;  and  I 
am  convinced  that  neither  of  them  has  the  inclination.  .  .  . 

But  each  government  .  .  .  believes  the  other  determined  on 
war,  and  ascribes  all  its  conduct  to  a  deep-rooted  hostility.  .  .  . 


Federalists  and  Republicans  205 

By  what  fatality  is  it  that  a  calamity  so  dreadful  is  to  be 
rendered  inevitable  because  it  is  thought  so  ?  Both  governments 
have  tongues,  and  both  have  ears.  Why  will  they  not  speak  ? 
Why  will  they  not  listen  ?  The  causes  that  have  hitherto  pre 
vented  them  are  not  difficult  to  assign.  .  .  .  But  I  will  avoid 
speaking  of  any  past  provocations  on  either  side.  The  point 
which  I  wish  to  establish  in  your  mind  is,  that  the  French  Direc 
tory  is  at  present  sincerely  desirous  of  restoring  harmony  be 
tween  this  country  and  the  United  States,  on  terms  advantageous 
to  both  parties.  .  .  . 

You  will  judge  whether  it  does  not  comport  with  the  inde 
pendence  of  the  United  States,  and  the  dignity  of  their  gov 
ernment,  to  send  another  minister,  to  form  new  treaties  with 
the  French  Republic.  .  .  . 

Were  I  writing  to  a  young  general,  whose  name  was  yet  to 
be  created,  I  might  deem  it  vain  to  ask  him  to  stifle  in  its  birth 
a  war  on  which  he  had  founded  his  hopes  of  future  honors. 
But  you,  Sir,  having  already  earned  and  acquired  all  that  can 
render  a  man  great  and  happy,  can  surely  have  no  object  of 
ambition,  but  to  render  your  country  so.  To  engage  your  in 
fluence  in  favor  of  a  new  attempt  at  negotiation,  before  you 
draw  your  sword,  I  thought  it  only  necessary  to  convince  you 
that  such  attempt  would  be  well  received  here,  and  probably 
attended  with  success.  .  .  . 

I  am  not  accustomed  to  interpose  my  advice  in  the  adminis 
tration  of  any  country  ;  and  should  not  have  done  it  now,  did 
I  not  believe  it  my  duty,  as  a  citizen  of  my  own  and  a  friend 
to  all  others.  '  I  see  two  great  nations  rushing  on  each  other's 
bayonettes,  without  any  cause  of  contention  but  a  misunder 
standing.  I  shudder  at  the  prospect,  and  wish  to  throw  myself 
between  the  vans,  and  suspend  the  onset,  till  a  word  of  explana 
tion  can  pass.  .  .  . 

Joel  Barlow 

The  strife  between  Federalists  and  Republicans  broke  51.  TheKen- 
up  Washington's  cabinet,  divided  the  country  into  bitterly  yirgfmaan res- 
hostile  factions,  and  culminated  in  the  eventful  year  1708,  oiutions, 

1798-1799 
when  the  Federalists  passed  the  Alien  and  Sedition  Acts, 


206  The  New  Republic 

and  the  Republicans  replied  by  the  Kentucky  and  Virginia 
Resolutions,  drawn  up  by  Jefferson  and  Madison  respec 
tively.  Both  sets  of  resolutions  were  sent  to  the  other 
states  of  the  Union  for  approval ;  but  not  one  of  the  seven 
replies  received  was  favorable.  Kentucky  then  contented 
herself  by  reaffirming  her  position,  with  the  addition  of  a 
new  resolution  (November  22,  1799),  while  Virginia  simply 
referred  the  matter  to  a  committee.  The  Virginia  Reso 
lutions  of  1798  and  the  Kentucky  Resolution  of  1799 
follow  : 

In  the  House  of  Delegates 
Friday,  December  21,  1798 

[i.]  Resolved,  That  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia  doth 
unequivocally  express  a  firm  resolution  to  maintain  and  defend 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  the  Constitution  of 
this  State,  against  every  aggression  foreign  or  domestic ;  and 
that  they  will  support  the  Government  of  the  United  States  in 
all  measures  warranted  by  the  former. 

[2 .]  That  this  Assembly  most  solemnly  declares  a  warm  attach 
ment  to  the  Union  of  the  States,  to  maintain  which  it  pledges 
all  its  powers ;  and  that,  for  this  end,  it  is  their  duty  to  watch 
over  and  oppose  every  infraction  of  those  principles  which 
constitute  the  only  basis  of  that  Union,  because  a  faithful 
observance  of  them  can  alone  secure  its  existence  and  the 
public  happiness. 

[3.]  That  this  Assembly  doth  explicitly  and*  peremptorily 
declare  that  it  views  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Government  as 
resulting  from  the  compact  to  which  the  States  are  parties,  as 
limited  by  the  plain  sense  and  intention  of  the  instrument  con 
stituting  that  compact  .  .  .  and  that,  in  case  of  a  deliberate,  pal 
pable,  and  dangerous  exercise  of  other  powers  not  granted  by 
the  said  compact,  the  States,  who  are  parties  thereto,  have  the 
right  and  are  in  duty  bound,  to  interpose  for  arresting  the 
progress  of  the  evil.  .  .  . 

[4.]  That  the  General  Assembly  doth  also  express  its  deep 
regret,  that  a  spirit  has  in  sundry  instances  been  manifested  by 


Federalists  and  Republicans  207 

the  Federal  Government  to  enlarge  its  powers  by  forced  con 
structions  of  the  constitutional  charter  which  defines  them  .  .  . 
and  so  to  consolidate  the  States,  by  degrees,  into  one  sover 
eignty,  the  obvious  tendency  and  the  inevitable  result  of  which 
would  be  to  transform  the  present  republican  system  of  the 
United  States  into  an  absolute,  or,  at  best,  a  mixed  monarchy. 

[5.]  That  the  General  Assembly  doth  particularly  protest 
against  the  palpable  and  alarming  infractions  of  the  Constitu 
tion  in  the  two  late  cases  of  the  "  Alien  and  Sedition  Acts," 
passed  at  the  last  session  of  Congress ;  the  first  of  which  exer 
cises  a  power  nowhere  delegated  to  the  Federal  Government 
.  .  .  and  the  other  of  which  acts  exercises,  in  like  manner,  a 
power  not  delegated  by  the  Constitution,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
expressly  and  positively  forbidden  by  one  of  the  amendments 
thereto  —  a  power  which  more  than  any  other,  ought  to  produce 
universal  alarm,  because  it  is  levelled  against  the  right  of  freely 
examining  public  characters  and  measures,  and  of  free  com 
munication  among  the  people  thereon  [Amd't  I].  ... 

[6.]  That  this  State  having  by  its  Convention  which  ratified 
the  Federal  Constitution  expressly  declared  that,  among  other 
essential  rights,  "  the  liberty  of  conscience  and  of  the  press 
cannot  be  cancelled,  abridged,  restrained,  or  modified  by  any 
authority  of  the  United  States,"  ...  it  would  mark  a  reproach 
ful  inconsistency  and  criminal  degeneracy,  if  an  indifference 
were  now  shown  to  the  palpable  violation  of  one  of  the  rights 
thus  declared.  .  .  . 

[7.]  That  the  good  people  of  this  Commonwealth  having 
ever  felt  and  continuing  to  feel  the  most  sincere  affection  for 
their  bretheren  of  the  other  States  ...  the  General  Assembly 
doth  solemnly  appeal  to  the  like  dispositions  of  the  other  States, 
in  confidence  that  they  will  concur  with  this  Commonwealth  in 
declaring,  as  it  does  hereby  declare,  that  the  acts  aforesaid  are 
unconstitutional ;  and  that  the  necessary  and  proper  measures 
will  be  taken  by  each  for  cooperating  with  this  State,  in  main 
taining  unimpaired  the  authorities,  rights,  and  liberties  reserved 
to  the  States  respectively,  or  to  the  people. 

[8.]  That  the  Governor  be  desired  to  transmit  a  copy  of  the 
foregoing  resolutions  to  the  Executive  authority  of  each  of  the 


208  The  New  Republic 

other  States,  with  a  request  that  the  same  may  be  communi 
cated  to  the  Legislature  thereof ;  and  that  a  copy  be  furnished 
to  each  of  the  Senators  and  Representatives  representing  this 
State  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

The  additional  resolution  adopted  by  the  Kentucky  leg 
islature  in  1799,  after  the  unfavorable  response  to  the 
resolutions  of  1798,  reads: 

Resolved,  .  .  .  That  if  those  who  administer  the  General 
Government  be  permitted  to  transgress  the  limits  fixed  by  that 
compact  [the  Constitution],  by  a  total  disregard  to  the  special 
delegations  of  power  therein  contained,  an  annihilation  of  the 
State  Governments,  and  the  creation  upon  their  ruins  of  a  Gen 
eral  Consolidated  Government,  will  be  the  inevitable  consequence 
—  that  the  principle  and  construction  contended  for  by  sundry 
of  the  state  legislatures,  that  the  General  Government  is  the  ex 
clusive  judge  of  the  extent  of  the  powers  delegated  to  it,  stop 
nothing  [short]  of  despotism,  since  the  discretion  of  those  who 
administer  the  government,  and  not  the  Constitution,  would  be 
the  measure  of  their  powers :  That  the  several  states  who  formed 
that  instrument  being  sovereign  and  independent,  have  the  un 
questionable  right  to  judge  of  the  infraction  ;  and,  That  a  Nul 
lification  by  those  sovereignties,  of  all  unauthorized  acts  done  under 
color  of  that  instrument  is  the  rightful  remedy  :  That  this  Com 
monwealth  does,  under  the  most  deliberate  reconsideration, 
declare,  that  the  said  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws  are,  in  their 
opinion,  palpable  violations  of  the  said  Constitution ;  .  .  .  That 
although  this  commonwealth,  as  a  party  to  the  federal  compact, 
will  bow  to  the  laws  of  the  Union,  yet,  it  does,  at  the  same 
[time]  declare,  that  it  will  not  now,  or  ever  hereafter,  cease  to 
oppose  in  a  constitutional  manner,  every  attempt  at  what  quar 
ter  soever  offered,  to  violate  that  compact.  And,  finally,  in  order 
that  no  pretext  or  arguments  may  be  drawn  from  a  supposed 
acquiescence,  on  the  part  of  this  Commonwealth  in  the  consti 
tutionality  of  those  laws,  and  be  thereby  used  as  precedents  for 
similar  future  violations  of  the  Federal  compact — this  Common 
wealth  does  now  enter  against  them  its  solemn  PROTEST. 


Federalists  and  Republicans  209 

Both  Jefferson  and  Madison  lived  to  a  great  age,  and 
many  years  after  the  bitter  contests  of  the  first  quarter  of 
a  century  of  our  country's  history,  each  gave  his  explana 
tion  of  the  purpose  of  the  famous  Kentucky  and  Virginia 
Resolutions.  Jefferson  wrote  in  a  letter  to  J.  C.  Brecken- 
ridge,  December  n,  1821  : 

At  the  time  when  the  Republicans  of  our  country  were  so 
much  alarmed  at  the  proceedings  of  the  Federal  ascendency  in 
Congress,  in  the  Executive  and  the  Judiciary  departments,  it 
became  a  matter  of  serious  consideration  how  head  could  be 
made  against  their  enterprises  on  the  Constitution.  The  lead 
ing  Republicans  in  Congress  found  themselves  of  no  use  there, 
browbeaten  as  they  were  by  a  bold  and  overwhelming  majority. 
They  concluded  to  retire  from  that  field,  take  a  stand  in  their 
state  legislatures,  and  endeavor  there  to  arrest  their  [Federalists] 
progress.  The  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws  furnished  the  particular 
occasion.  The  sympathy  between  Virginia  and  Kentucky  was 
more  cordial  and  more  intimately  confidential  than  between  any 
other  two  States  of  republican  policy.  Mr.  Madison  came  into 
the  Virginia  legislature.  I  was  then  in  the  Vice-Presidency,  and 
could  not  leave  my  station ;  but  your  father,  Col.  Nicholas, 
and  myself  happening  to  be  together,  the  engaging  the  coopera 
tion  of  Kentucky  in  an  energetic  protestation  against  the  con 
stitutionality  of  those  laws  became  a  subject  of  consultation. 
Those  gentlemen  pressed  me  strongly  to  sketch  resolutions  for 
that  purpose,  your  father  undertaking  to  introduce  them  into 
that  legislature,  with  a  solemn  assurance,  which  I  strictly  re 
quired,  that  it  should  not  be  known  from  what  quarter  they 
came.  I  drew  and  delivered  them  to  him,  and  in  keeping  their 
origin  secret  he  fulfilled  his  pledge  of  honor. 

Ten  years  later  (March  27,  1831)  the  aged  Madison 
wrote  to  James  Robertson  : 

The  veil  which  was  originally  over  the  draft  of  the  resolutions 
offered  in  1798  to  the  Virga  Assembly  having  been  long  since 
removed,  I  may  say  in  answer  to  your  enquiries  that  it  was 


210 


The  New  Republic 


[173] 


[they  were]  penned  by  me.  .  .  .  With  respect  to  the  terms  fol 
lowing  the  term  "  unconstitutional"  —viz.,  "  not  law,  but  null, 
void  and  of  no  force  or  effect,"  which  were  stricken  out  of  the 
7th  resolution,  my  memory  cannot  positively  decide  whether 
they  were  or  were  not  in  the  original  draft.  .  .  .  On  the  pre 
sumption  that  they  were  in  the  draft  as  it  went  from  me,  I  am 
confident  they  must  have  been  regarded  only  as  giving  accumu 
lated  emphasis  to  the  declaration  that  the  alien  and  sedition 
acts  had  in  the  opinion  of  the  Assembly  violated  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  U.S.,  and  not  that  the  addition  of  them  could  annul 
the  acts  or  sanction  a  resistance  of  them.  .  The  Resolution  was 
expressly  declaratory,  and  proceeding  from  the  Legislature 
only,1  which  was  not  even  a  party  to  the  Constitution,  could  be 
declaratory  of  opinion  only. 

A  few  weeks  after  the  publication  of  the  Kentucky  and 
Virginia  Resolutions,  Washington,  greatly  disturbed  over 
the  attacks  on  the  administration  of  his  Federalist  suc 
cessor,  John  Adams,  and  alarmed  by  language  of  a  state 
legislature  which  spoke  of  acts  of  Congress  as  "  not  law 
but  altogether  void  and  of  no  force,"  and  "palpable  in 
fractions  of  the  Constitution,"  wrote  to  ex-Governor 
Patrick  Henry  of  Virginia,  urging  him  to  run  for  a  seat 
in  Congress  or  in  his  state  legislature,  where  he  could 
help  rescue  the  country  from  the  pending  evil. 

Confidential  I 

Mount  Vernon,  15  Jan.  1799 
JJear  oir 

At  the  threshold  of  this  letter,  I  ought  to  make  an  apology 
for  its  contents.  ...  It  would  be  a  waste  of  time  to  bring  to 

1  The  astute  Madison  saw  at  the  time  the  inconsistency  of  protest 
by  a  State  Legislature.  He  wrote  to  Jefferson,  December  29,  1798: 
"  Have  you  ever  considered  thoroughly  the  distinction  between  the 
power  of  the  State  and  that  of  the  Legislature,  on  questions  relating  to 
the  federal  pact?  On  the  supposition  that  the  former  is  clearly  the 
ultimate  Judge  of  infractions,  it  does  not  follow  that  the  latter  is  the 


Federalists  and  Republicans  211 

the  view  of  a  person  of  your  observation  &  discernment,  the 
endeavors  of  a  certain  party  among  us,  to  disquiet  the  Public 
mind  with  unfounded  alarms ;  —  to  arraign  every  act  of  the 
Administration;  —  to  set  the  People  at  varience  with  their 
Government ;  —  and  to  embarrass  all  its  measures.  —  Equally 
useless  would  it  be,  to  predict  what  must  be  the  inevitable  con 
sequences  of  such  policy  if  it  cannot  be  arrested.  — 

Unfortunately,  and  extremely  do  I  regret.it,  the  State  of  Vir 
ginia  has  taken  the  lead  in  this  opposition.  ...  It  has  been  said, 
that  a  great  mass  of  the  Citizens  of  this  State  are  well  affected, 
notwithstanding,  to  the  General  Government  and  the  Union ;  — 
and  I  am  willing  to  believe  it  —  nay  do  believe  it.  ...  But  at 
such  a  crisis  as  this,  when  everything  dear  &  valuable  to  us  is 
assailed ;  when  this  Party  hang  upon  the  Wheels  of  Govern 
ment  as  a  dead  weight,  opposing  every  measure  that  is  calculated 
for  defence  &  self  preservation ;  —  abetting  the  nefarious  views 
of  another  Nation  [France],  upon  our  rights  ;  —  when  measures 
are  systematically  and  pertenaciously  pursued,  which  must  even 
tually  dissolve  the  Union  or  produce  coercion  —  I  say,  when 
these  things  have  become  so  obvious,  ought  characters  who  are 
best  able  to  rescue  their  Country  from  the  pending  evils  to  re 
main  at  home  ?  Rather,  ought  they  not  to  come  forward,  and 
by  their  talents  and  influence  stand  in  the  breach  wh.  such  con 
duct  has  made  on  the  Peace  and  happiness  of  this  country,  and 
oppose  the  widening  of  it  ?  ... 

I  come  now,  my  good  Sir,  to  the  object  of  my  letter— 
which  is  —  to  express  a  hope,  and  an  earnest  wish,  that  you 
wd.  come  forward  at  the  ensuing  Elections  (if  not  for  Congress, 
which  you  may  think  would  take  you  too  long  from  home)  as  a 
Candidate  for  representative  in  the  General  Assembly  of  this 
Commonwealth.1  .  .  . 

legitimate  organ,  especially  as  a  Convention  was  the  organ  by  which 
the  compact  was  made."  —  Works,  Vol.  VI,  p.  328,  note. 

1  Henry  took  Washington's  advice  and  was  elected  in  the  spring  of 
1799  to  the  Virginia  Assembly;  but  he  died  (June  6,  1799)  before  tak 
ing  his  seat.  He  had  previously  declined  the  offices  of  Secretary  of 
State  (1795),  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  (1795),  Governor  of 
Virginia  (1796),  and  Minister  to  France  (1799). 


2 1 2  The  New  Republic 

If  I  have  erroneously  supposed  that  your  sentiments  on 
these  subjects  are  in  unison  with  mine ;  —  or  if  I  have  assumed 
a  liberty  which  the  occasion  does  not  warrant,  I  must  conclude 
as  I  began,  with  praying  that  my  motives  may  be  received  as  an 
apology ;  and  that  my  fear,  that  the  tranquillity  of  the  Union, 
and  of  this  State  in  particular,  is  hastening  to  an  awful  crisis, 
have  extorted  them  from  me. 

With  great,  and  .very  sincere  regard  and  respect,  —  I  am  — 

Your  Most  Obedt  &  Very  Hble  Serv* 

..  ,   „  G°  Washington 

Patnck  Henry  Esqr 

THE  JEFFERSONIAN  POLICIES 

53.  The  dis-  The  completion  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
Columbia  was  unexpectedly  celebrated  by  the  first  voyage  of  the 
river,  1792  American  flag  around  the  world.  On  September  23,  1787, 
11771  Captains  Gray  and  Kendrick  sailed  from  Boston  Harbor 
in  the  ships  Columbia  and  Washington,  and  doubling  Cape 
Horn,  collected  furs  on  the  northwestern  coast  of  America 
for  the  Chinese  trade.  Gray,  in  the  Columbia,  sailed  to 
Canton,  and  continuing  his  westward  journey  around  the 
globe,  brought  his  cargo  of  tea  into  Boston  Harbor  to  the 
sound  of  a  rousing  welcome  on  August  10,  I79O.1  He 
started  to  repeat  his  profitable  voyage  in  September,  1 790, 
fortified  by  letters  from  Governor  Hancock  of  Massachu 
setts  and  President  Washington ;  and,  while  on  the  north 
western  coast,  discovered  and  sailed  into  the  mouth  of  the 
broad  river  which  bears  his  good  ship's  name.  The  dis 
covery  of  the  Columbia  River  established  the  earliest  and 
best  claim  of  the  United  States  to  the  great  Oregon  region. 
The  following  account  is  from  the  log  book  of  the  Columbia : 

1  A  charming  narrative  of  the  voyages  of  the  Columbia,  illustrated  by 
valuable  drawings,  was  published  by  the  Reverend  E.  G.  Porter  in  the 
New  England  Magazine  for  June,  1892,  the  Oregon  centennial  year. 


Federalists  and  Republicans  2 1 3 

May  7th  1792  —  Being  within  six  miles  of  land,  saw  an  en 
trance  in  the  same,  which  had  a  very  good  appearance  of  a 
harbor.  .  .  .  Made  sail  on  the  ship;  stood  in  for  the  shore.  We 
soon  saw  from  our  mast-head  a  passage  in  between  the  sand 
bars.  ...  At  five  p.m.  came  to  in  five  fathoms  water,  sandy 
bottom  with  a  safe  harbor,  well  sheltered  from  the  sea  by  long 
sand-bars  and  spits.  Our  latitude  observed  this  day  was 
46°  58'  north. 

May  i  oth  —  Fresh  breezes  and  pleasant  weather ;  many 
natives  alongside.  At  noon  all  the  canoes  left  us.  ... 

May  nth —  ...  At  4  a.m.  saw  the  entrance  of  our  desired 
port  bearing  east-south-east,  distance  six  leagues.  ...  At  eight 
a.m.  run  in  east-north-east  between  the  breakers,  having  from 
five  to  seven  fathoms  of  water.  When  we  were  over  the  bar, 
we  found  this  to  be  a  large  river  of  fresh  water,  up  which  we 
steered.  Many  canoes  came  alongside.  ...  At  i  p.m.  the  en 
trance  between  the  bars  bore  west-south-west,  distance  ten  miles ; 
the  north  side  of  the  river  a  half  a  mile  distant  from  the  ship ; 
the  south  side  of  the  same  two  and  a  half  miles'  distance  ;  a  vil 
lage  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  west  by  north,  distance  three 
quarters  of  a  mile.  Vast  numbers  of  natives  came  alongside ; 
people  employed  in  pumping  the  salt  water  out  of  our  water 
casks,  in  order  to  fill  with  fresh,  while  the  ship  floated  in.  ... 

May  1 4th  —  Fresh  gales  and  cloudy ;  many  natives  along 
side  ;  at  noon  weighed  and  came  to  sail,  standing  up  the  river 
north-east  by  east ;  we  found  the  channel  very  narrow.  At  four 
p.m.  we  had  sailed  upwards  of  twelve  or  fifteen  miles,  when  the 
channel  was  so  very  narrow  that  it  was  almost  impossible  to 
keep  in  it,  having  from  three  to  eighteen  fathoms  of  water, 
sandy  bottom.  At  half-past  four  the  ship  took  ground,  but  she 
did  not  stay  long  before  she  came  off,  without  any  assistance. 
We  backed  her  off  stern  foremost,  into  three  fathoms.  .  .  .  The 
jolly-boat  was  sent  to  sound  the  channel  out,  but  found  it  not 
navigable  any  farther  up ;  so,  of  course,  we  must  have  taken 
the  wrong  channel.  So  ends,  with  rainy  weather ;  many  natives 
alongside.  .  .  . 

May  i9th  —  Fresh  wind  and  clear  weather.  Early  a  number 
of  canoes  came  alongside ;  seamen  and  tradesmen  employed  in 


214  The  New  Republic 

their  various  departments.  Captain  Gray  gave  this  river  the 
name  of  Columbia's  River,  and  the  north  side  of  the  entrance 
Cape  Hancock  ;  the  south,  Adams's  Point. 

May  2Oth  —  .  .  .  At  one  p.m.  (being  full  sea),  took  up  the  anchor 
and  made  sail,  standing  down  river.  ...  At  five  p.m.  we  were 
out,  clear  of  all  the  bars  and  in  twenty  fathoms  water.  ...  At 
eight  Cape  Hancock  bore  south-east,  distant  three  leagues.  .  .  . 

Captain  Gray's  letter  from  President  Washington  reads 
as  follows  : 

To  all  Emperors,  Kings,  Sovereign  princes,  State  and  Regents 
and  to  their  respective  officers  civil  and  military,  and  to  all  others 
whom  it  may  concern  : 

I,  George  Washington,  President  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  do  make  known  that  Robert  Gray,  Captain  of  a  ship 
called  the  Columbia,  of  the  burden  of  about  230  tons,  is  a  citi 
zen  of  the  United  States,  and  that  the  said  ship  which  he  com 
mands  belongs  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  ;  and  as  I 
wish  that  the  said  Robert  Gray  may  prosper  in  all  his  lawful 
affairs,  I  do  request  all  the  before  mentioned,  and  each  of  them 
separately,  when  the  said  Robert  Gray  shall  arrive  with  his 
vessel  and  cargo,  that  they  will  be  pleased  to  receive  him  with 
kindness  and  treat  him  in  a  becoming  manner,  &c.,  and  thereby 
I  shall  consider  myself  obliged. 

Sept.  16,  1790  —  New  York  City 

Ge°  Washington 

President 
Thomas  Jefferson 
Secretary  of  State 

54.  Apeti-'       The  transfer  of  the  Louisiana  territory  from  France  to 
"  the  United  States  in   1803  has  been  called  "the  largest 


Louisiana,      transaction  in  real  estate  that  the  world  has  ever  seen."    It 
1804 

not  only  doubled  the  original  area  of  our  country  but  by 

its  incorporation  of  alien  peoples  it  gave  rise  to  serious 
problems  of  government.    The  third  article  of  the  treaty 


Federalists  and  Republicans  215 

read  :  "  The  inhabitants  of  the  ceded  territory  shall  be  in 
corporated  in  the  Union  of  the  United  States,  and  admitted 
as  soon  as  possible,  according  to  the  principles  of  the  Fed 
eral  Constitution  to  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  rights,  advan 
tages,  and  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United  States."  .  .  . 
But  the  law  passed  in  March,  1 804,  by  Congress,  providing 
for  the  territorial  government  was  so  poor  a  promise  of  the 
fulfillment  of  this  pledge  that  the  following  petition  was 
forwarded  by  the  people  of  the  territory  to  Congress.  The 
author  was  Edward  Livingston,  younger  brother  of  Robert 
R.  Livingston,  who,  with  special  envoy  Monroe,  had  nego 
tiated  the  purchase  treaty.  Edward  Livingston  removed  to 
Louisiana  soon  after  the  purchase,  and  did  the  people  of 
Louisiana  a  lasting  service  by  recasting  their  old  Spanish 
and  French  laws  into  a  code  suitable  for  a  state  of  the 
American  Union. 

We,  the  subscribers,  planters,  merchants,  and  other  inhabit 
ants  of  Louisiana,  respectfully  approach  the  Legislature  of  the 
United  States  with  a  memorial  of  our  rights,  a  remonstrance 
against  certain  laws  which  contravene  them,  and  a  petition  for 
that  redress  to  which  the  laws  of  nature,  sanctioned  by  positive 
stipulation,  have  entitled  us.  ... 

Persuaded  that  a  free  people  would  acquire  territory  only  to 
extend  the  blessings  of  freedom,  that  an  enlightened  nation 
would  never  destroy  those  principles  on  which  its  Government 
was  founded,  and  that  their  Representatives  would  disdain 
to  become  the  instruments  of  oppression,  we  calculated  with 
certainty  that  their  first  act  of  sovereignty  would  be  a  commu 
nication  of  all  the  blessings  they  enjoyed.  ...  It  was  early 
understood  that  we  were  to  be  American  Citizens  ;  this  satisfied 
our  wishes.  .  .  .  We  knew  that  it  was  impossible  to  be  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  without  enjoying  a  personal  freedom,  pro 
tection  for  property,  and,  above  all,  the  privileges  of  a  free 
Representative  Government.  .  .  .  "1 


216  The  New  Republic 

With  a  firm  persuasion  that  these  engagements  [of  the 
treaty]  were  to  be  fulfilled,  we  passed  under  your  jurisdiction 
with  a  joy  bordering  on  enthusiasm.  .  -.  .  Even  the  evils  of  a 
military  and  absolute  authority  were  acquiesced  in,  because 
it  indicated  an  eagerness  to  complete  the  transfer,  and  place 
beyond  the  reach  of  accident  the  union  we  mutually  desired.  .  .  . 
But  we  cannot  conceal,  we  ought  not  to  dissemble,  that  the 
first  project  presented  for  the  government  of  this  country 
tended  to  lessen  our  enthusiasm  .  .  .  and  to  fix  our  attention 
on  present  evils,  while  it  rendered  us  less  sanguine  as  to  the 
future.  .  .  . 

Disavowing  any  language  but  that  of  respectful  remonstrance, 
disdaining  any  other  but  that  which  befits  a  manly  assertion  of 
our  rights,  we  pray  leave  to  examine  the  law  for  erecting  Loui 
siana  into  two  Territories  and  providing  for  the  temporary  gov 
ernment  thereof,  to  compare  its  provisions  with  our  rights,  and 
its  whole  scope  with  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  treaty  which 
binds  us  to  the  United  States.1 

The  first  section  erects  the  country  south  of  the  33d  degree 
into  a  Territory  of  the  United  States,  by  the  name  of  the  Territory 
of  Orleans.  The  second  gives  us  a  Governor  appointed  for 
three  years  by  the  President  of  the  United  States.  The  fourth 
vests  in  him  and  in  a  council,  also  chosen  by  the  President,  all 
Legislative  power,  subject  to  revision  by  Congress.  .  .  .  And 
a  fifth  establishes  a  judiciary ;  .  .  .  The  judges  of  the  superior 
court  are  appointed  'by  the  President,  to  continue  in  office 
four  years. 

This  is  a  summary  of  our  constitution  .  .  .  and  this  is  the 
promise  performed,  which  was  made  by  our  first  magistrate  in 
your  name  "  that  you  would  receive  us  as  brothers,  and  hasten 
to  extend  to  us  a  participation  in  those  invaluable  rights  which 
had  formed  the  basis  of  your  unexampled  prosperity."  .  .  . 

Is  it  necessary  for  us  to  demonstrate  that  this  act  does  not 
"  incorporate  us  in  the  Union,-"  that  it  vests  us  with  none  of  the 
"  rights,"  gives  us  no  "  advantages,"  and  deprives  us  of  all  the 
"-immunities"  of  American  citizens?  .  .  . 

1  The  text  of  the  treaty  can  be  found  in  the  Old  South  Leaflets, 
Vol.  VI,  No.  128. 


Federalists  and  Republicans  2  1 7 

A  Governor  is  to  be  placed  over  us  whom  we  have  not  chosen, 
whom  we  do  not  even  know.  .  .  .  This  Governor  is  vested  with 
all  executive  and  almost  unlimited  legislative  power.  .  .  . 

Taxation  without  representation,  an  obligation  to  obey  laws 
without  any  voice  in  their  formation,  the  undue  influence  of  the 
executive  upon  legislative  proceedings,  and  a  dependent  judiciary, 
formed,  we  believe  very  prominent  articles  in  the  list  of  griev 
ances  complained  of  by  the  United  States  at  the  commencement 
of  their  glorious  contest  for  freedom.  .  .  .  They  formed,  as  your 
country  then  unanimously  asserted,  the  only  rational  basis  on 
which  Government  could  rest.  .  .  . 

Were  the  patriots  who  composed  your  councils  mistaken  in 
their  political  principles  ?  Did  the  heroes  who  died  in  their  defence 
seal  a  false  creed  with  their  blood  ?  .  .  .  Do  political  axioms  on 
the  Atlantic  become  problems  when  transferred  to  the  shores 
of  the  Mississippi?  Where,  we  ask  respectfully,  where  is  the 
circumstance  that  is  to  exclude  us  from  a  participation  in  those 
rights  ?  .  .  .  Many  of  us  are  native  citizens  of  the  United  States 
who  have  participated  in  that  kind  of  knowledge  which  is  there 
spread  among  the  people ;  the  others  generally  are  men  who 
will  not  suffer  by  a  comparison  with  the  population  of  any  other 
colony.  .  .  .  For  our  love  of  order  and  submission  to  the  laws 
we  can  confidently  appeal  to  the  whole  history  of  our  settlement. 
.  .  .  Many  individuals  possessing  a  property  and  rank,  which 
suppose  a  liberal  education,  were  among  the  first  settlers.  .  .  . 
Their  descendants  now  respectfully  call  for  the  evidence  which 
proves  that  they  have  so  far  degenerated  as  to  become  totally 
incompetent  to  the  task  of  legislation.  .  .  . 

Deeply  impressed,  therefore,  with  a  persuasion  that  our  rights 
need  only  be  stated  to  be  recognized  and  allowed ;  that  the 
highest  glory  of  a  free  nation  is  a  communication  of  the  blessings 
of  freedom  ;  and  that  its  best  reputation  is  derived  from  a  sacred 
regard  to  treaties ;  we  pray  you,  Representatives  of  the  people, 
to  consult  your  own  fame  and  our  happiness,  by  a  prompt  atten 
tion  to  our  prayer.  .  .  .  Annexed  to  your  country  by  the  course 
of  political  events,  it  depends  upon  you  to  determine  whether 
we  shall  pay  the  cold  homage  of  reluctant  subjects,  or  render 
the  free  allegiance  of  citizens.  .  .  . 


2 1 8  The  New  Republic 

We,  therefore,  respectfully  pray  that  so  much  of  the  law  above- 
mentioned,  as  provides  for  the  temporary  government  of  this 
country,  as  divides  it  into  two  Territories,  and  prohibits  the  im 
portation  of  slaves,  be  repealed.  And  that  prompt  and  efficacious 
measures  may  be  taken  to  incorporate  the  inhabitants  of  Louisi 
ana  into  the  Union  of  the  United  States,  and  admit  them  to  all 
the  rights,  privileges,  and  immunities,  of  the  citizens  thereof.  .  .  . 

P.  Sauve 

L.  Debigny 

Destrehan 

55.  The  About  three  months  before  the  Louisiana  territory  was 

ciark  expe-  purchased  from  France,  Jefferson,  by  a  special  message, 
1803-  persuaded  Congress  to  sanction  and  support  a  scientific 
exploring  expedition  from  the  Missouri  River  to  the  Pacific 
Coast  —  a  scheme  in  which  he  had  been  interested  for 
twenty  years.1  Jefferson  selected  Meriwether  Lewis,  his 
private  secretary,  to  lead  the  expedition.  His  instructions 
to  Lewis  are  contained  in  a  letter  of  June  20,  1803  : 

To  Meriwether  Lewis,  Esquire,  Captain  of  the  Ist  regiment  of 
infantry  of  the  United  States  of  America :  Your  situation  as 
Secretary  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  has  made  you 
acquainted  with  the  objects  of  my  confidential  message  of 
Jan.  1 8,  1803,  to  the  legislature.  You  have  seen  the  act  they 
passed,  which,  tho'  expressed  in  general  terms,  was  meant  to 
sanction  those  objects,  and  you  are  appointed  to  carry  them  into 
execution. 

Instruments  for  ascertaining  by  celestial  observations  the 
geography  of  the  country  thro'  which  you  will  pass,  have  already 
been  provided,  light  articles  for  barter,  &  presents  among  the 
Indians,  arms  for  your  attendants,  say  for  from  10  to  12  men, 
boats,  tents,  &  other  travelling  apparatus,  with  ammunition, 

1  In  1783  Jefferson  had  proposed  to  George  Rogers  Clark,  the  hero 
of  Vincennes,  to  head  an  expedition  "  for  exploring  the  Country  from 
the  Mississippi  to  California."  —  Original  Journals  of  the  Lewis  and 
Clark  Expedition,  ed.  R.  G.  Thwaites,  Vol.  I,  p.  xx. 


Federalists  and  Republicans  219 

medicine,  surgical  instruments  &  provisions  you  will  have  pre 
pared  with  such  aids  as  the  Secretary  at  War  can  yield  in  his 
department ;  &  from  him  also  you  will  receive  authority  to  en 
gage  among  our  troops,  by  voluntary  agreement,  the  number 
of  attendants  above  mentioned,  over  whom  you,  as  their  com 
manding  officer,  are  invested  with  all  the  powers  the  laws  give 
in  such  a  case.  .  .  . 

Your  mission  has  been  communicated  to  the  Ministers  here 
from  France,  Spain,  &  Great  Britain,  and  through  them  to  their 
governments  :  and  such  assurances  given  them  as  to  it's  objects 
as  we  trust  will  satisfy  them.1 .  .  . 

The  object  of  your  mission  is  to  explore  the  Missouri  river, 
&  such  principal  stream  of  it,  as,  by  it's  course  &  communication 
with  the  waters  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  may  offer  the  most  direct 
&  practicable  water  communication  across  this  continent,  for  the 
purpose  of  commerce.  .  .  . 

The  commerce  which  may  be  carried  on  with  the  people  in 
habiting  the  line  you  will  pursue,  renders  a  knolege  [knowledge] 
of  these  people  important.  You  will  therefore  endeavor  to  make 
yourself  acquainted  .  .  .  with  the  names  of  the  nations  &  their 
numbers ;  the  extent  and  limits  of  their  possessions ;  their  re 
lations  with  other  tribes  or  nations ;  their  language,  traditions, 
monuments ;  their  ordinary  occupations  in  agriculture,  fishing, 
hunting,  war,  arts,  &  the  implements  for  these  ;  their  food,  cloth 
ing,  and  domestic  accomodations  ;  the  diseases  prevalent  among 
them,  and  the  remedies  they  use  ;  moral  &  physical  circumstances 
which  distinguish  them  from  the  tribes  we  know ;  peculiarities 
in  their  laws,  customs,  and  dispositions ;  the  articles  of  commerce 
they  may  need  or  furnish,  &  to  what  extent.  .  .  . 

Other  objectfs]  worthy  of  notice  will  be  the  soil  &  face  of 
the  country,  it's  growth  &  vegetable  productions ;  especially  those 
not  of  the  U.S. ;  the  animals  of  the  country  generally,  &  espe 
cially  those  not  known  in  the  U.S. ;  the  remains  and  accounts 
of  any  which  may  [be]  deemed  rare  or  extinct ;  the  mineral 

1  The  student  must  bear  in  mind  that  until  we  took  over  the  Louisiana 
territory  from  France,  some  time  after  this  letter  was  written,  all  of  the 
land  west  of  the  Mississippi  was  in  the  hands  or  subject  to  the  claims 
of  the  foreign  powers  mentioned  here  by  Jefferson. 


22O  The  New  Republic 

productions  of  every  kind ;  but  more  particularly  metals,  lime 
stone,  pit  coal  &  saltpetre ;  .  .  .  Volcanic  appearances ;  climate 
as  characterized  by  the  thermometer  ...  by  the  winds  prevailing 
at  different  seasons,  the  dates  at  which  particular  plants  put  forth 
or  lose  their  flowers,  or  leaf,  times  of  appearance  of  particular 
birds,  reptiles  or  insects.  .  .  . 

In  all  your  intercourse  with  the  natives  treat  them  in  the  most 
friendly  &  conciliatory  manner  which  their  own  conduct  will  ad 
mit  ;  allay  all  jealousies  as  to  the  object  of  your  journey  ;  satisfy 
them  of  it's  innocence,  make  them  acquainted  with  the  position, 
extent,  character,  peaceable  &  commercial  dispositions  of  the 
U.S.  of  our  will  to  be  neighborly,  friendly  &  useful  to  them.  .  .  . 

Should  you  reach  the  Pacific  Ocean  .  .  .  inform  yourself  of 
the  circumstances  which  may  decide  whether  the  furs  of  those 
parts  may  not  be  collected  as  advantageously  at  the  head  of  the 
Missouri  as  at  Nootka  sound  or  any  other  point  of  that  coast ; 
&  that  trade  be  consequently  conducted  through  the  Missouri  & 
U.S.  more  beneficially  than  by  the  circumnavigation  now  practised. 

On  your  arrival  on  that  coast  endeavor  to  learn  if  there  be 
any  port  within  your  reach  frequented  by  the  sea-vessels  of  any 
nation,  and  to  send  two  of  your  trusty  people  back  by  sea  .  .  . 
with  a  copy  of  your  notes.  And  should  you  be  of  opinion  that 
the  return  of  your  party  by  the  way  they  went  will  be  eminently 
dangerous,  then  ship  the  whole  &  return  by  sea  by  way  of 
Cape  Horn  or  the  Cape  of  good  Hope  as  you  shall  be  able.  As 
you  will  be  without  money,  clothes,  or  provisions,  you  must 
endeavor  to  use  the  credit  of  the  U.S.  to  obtain  them ;  for 
which  purpose  open  letters  of  credit  shall  be  furnished  you 
authorizing  you  to  draw  on  the  Executive  of  the  U.S.  or  any  of 
its  officers  in  any  part  of  the  world.  .  .  . 

Your  observations  are  to  be  taken  with  great  pains  and  accu 
racy,  to  be  entered  distinctly,  &  intelligibly  for  others  as  well 
as  yourself,  .  .  .  several  copies  of  these  .  .  .  should  be  made  at 
leisure  times,  &  put  into  the  care  of  the  most  trustworthy  of 
your  attendants,  to  guard  by  multiplying  them,  against  the  acci 
dental  losses  to  which  they  will  be  exposed.  A  further  guard 
would  be  that  one  of  these  copies  be  written  on  the  paper  of  the 
birch,  as  less  liable  to  injury  from  damp  than  common  paper. .  .  . 


Federalists  and  Republicans  221 

To  provide,  on  the  accident  of  your  death,  against  anarchy, 
dispersion,  &  the  consequent  danger  to  your  party,  and  total 
failure  of  the  enterprise,  you  are  hereby  authorized,  by  any  instru 
ment  signed  &  written  in  your  hand,  to  name  the  person  among 
them  who  shall  succeed  to  the  command  on  your  decease.  . . . 

Given  under  my  hand  at  the  city  of  Washington,  this  20th  day 

of  June  1803 

Th.  Jefferson 

Pr.  U.  S.  of  America 

John  Ordway,  first  sergeant  of  the  expedition,  wrote  his 
parents  just  before  the  company  started  from  camp  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Missouri  River : 

Camp  River  Dubois,  April  the  8th,  1804 
Honored  Parents :  I  now  embrace  this  opportunity  of  writing 
to  you  once  more  to  let  you  know  where  I  am  and  where  I  am 
going.  I  am  well  thank  God  and  in  high  Spirits.  I  am  now 
on  an  expedition  to  the  westward,  with  Capt.  Lewis  and  Capt. 
Clark,  who  are  appointed  by  the  President  of  the  united  States 
to  go  on  an  Expedition  through  the  interior  parts  of  North 
America,  we  are  to  ascend  the  Missouri  River  with  a  boat  as 
far  as  it  is  navigable  and  then  go  by  land  to  the  western  ocean, 
if  nothing  prevents.  This  party  consists  of  25  picked  men  of 
the  armey  and  country  likewise  and  I  am  so  happy  as  to  be  one 
of  them  picked  men  from  the  armey  and  I  and  all  the  party  are 
if  we  live  to  return  to  receive  our  discharge  when  ever  we  re 
turn  again  to  the  united  States  if  we  choose  it.  This  place  is 
on  the  Mississippi  River  opposite  to  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri 
River  and  we  are  to  start  in  ten  days  up  the  Missouri  River, 
this  has  been  our  winter  quarters,  we  expect  to  be  gone  18 
months  or  two  years,  we  are  to  receive  a  great  reward  for  this 
expedition  1 5  dollars  a  month l  and  at  least  400  ackers  [acres] 

1  In  a  draft  of  receipts  for  compensation  for  the  expedition  John 
Ordway's  name  appears  first,  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  $266.66  for 
thirty-three  months  ten  days'  services  (January  i,  1804,  to  October  10, 
1806)  at  eight  dollars  a  month.  The  privates  received  five  dollars  a 
month.  —  Thwaites,  Original  Journals  of  the  Lewis  and  Clark  Expedi 
tion,  Vol.  VII,  p.  360. 


222 


The  New  Republic 


of  first  rate  land  and  if  we  make  great  discoveries  as  we  expect 
the  united  States  has  promised  to  make  us  great  rewards,  more 
than  we  are  promised.  .  .  . 

I  have  received  no  letters  since  Betseys  yet  but  will  write 
next  winter  if  I  have  a  chance. 

Yours  &c. 

John  Ordway  Segt. 

THE  WAR  OF  1812 

The  great  struggle  between  France  and  England,  which 
lasted  with  scarcely  a  breathing  space  from  1793  to  1815, 
involved  all  the  nations  of  western  Europe  and  their  colo 
nies  in  the  distant  parts  of  the  earth.  It  was  only  in  the 
ships  of  the  United  States,  under  a  neutral  flag,  that  the 
valuable  food  products  of  the  French,  Dutch,  and  Spanish 
colonies  could  be  brought  to  European  ports.  Our  exports 
increased  from  $20,000,000  in  1790  to  $108,000,000  in 

1807,  or  three  and  one-half  times  as  rapidly  as  our  popu 
lation  ;  and  the  tonnage  of  vessels  engaged  in  foreign  trade 
rose  from  346,000  in  1790  to  984,000  in  1810.    Each  of 
the  two  great  belligerent  powers  tried  to  break  up  this  trade 
in  so  far  as  it  benefited  the  other.    Each  called  our  com 
merce  with  the  other  "war  in  disguise  against  itself." 
Each  issued  a  series  of  decrees  and  orders  hostile  to  our 
commerce.1    And  each  committed  acts  of  violence  in  the 
forcible  stoppage  of  our  ships  and  impressment  of  our 
crews  that  were  ample  cause  for  war.    The  following  ex 
amples  show  what  indignities  the  Americans  suffered  years 
before  they  were  provoked  to  the  formal  declaration  of  war  : 

1  At  the  request  of  the  Senate,  Secretary  of  State  Madison  compiled 
a  list  of  acts  and  decrees  hostile  to  our  commerce  passed  by  the  British^ 
French,  and  Spanish  governments  between  March,  1793,  and  October, 

1808.  He  enumerates  thirty-one  British  and  eighteen  French  instances. 
—  American  State  Papers,  "Foreign  Relations,"  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  262-292. 


Federalists  and  Republicans  223 

Charleston,  South  Carolina,  June  12,  1805 

To  the  honorable  James  Madison,  Esquire,  Secretary  of  State 
of  the  United  States.  The  memorial  of  the  President  and  Directors 
of  the  South  Carolina  Insurance  Company,  and  of  the  merchants 
and  others  interested  in  the  commerce  of  the  city  of  Charleston, 
respectfully  showeth : 

That  your  memorialists  are  deeply  affected  by  the  recent  cap 
ture,  at  the  very  entrance  of  this  port,  of  the  American  ship 
Two  Friends,  by  a  French  privateer.  This  event  has  excited 
among  all  classes  of  citizens,  the  strongest  sensations,  not  only 
because  the  said  ship  was  captured  without  any  color  of  pre 
tence,  within  sight  of  land,  but  because  she  is  our  only  regular 
London  trader,  and  had  on  board  a  full  supply  of  spring  and 
summer  goods.  .  .  .  Your  memorialists  are  authorized  to  add 
(although  the  fact  be  not  detailed  in  the  protest)  that  it  appears, 
from  undoubted  authority,  that  the  magnitude  of  the  prize  was 
the  sole  inducement  of  the  above-mentioned  capture,  the  captors 
having  said  that  they  would  release  the  Two  Friends,  in  the 
event  of  their  falling  in  with  any  other  valuable  prize,  which 
might  be  more  worthy  of  their  notice. 

This  most  extraordinary  capture,  in  direct  violation  of  our 
treaty  with  France  (as  appears  by  the  accompanying  docu 
ments)  has  already  been  followed  by  events  no  less  alarming, 
our  harbor  being  at  this  moment  completely  blockaded  by  three 
French  privateers  (and  more  are  daily  expected),  which  examine 
all  vessels  coming  in  and  going  out  of  this  port,  and  either  de 
tain  or  release  them,  according  as  their  value  excites  the  cupidity 
of  the  cruisers. 

This  degrading  state  of  our  harbor  has  necessarily  raised  the 
premiums  of  insurance,  thus  forcing  additional  sums  from  the 
pockets  of  our  citizens,  has  advanced  the  price  of  every  com 
modity,  and  created  a  distressing  stagnation  of  our  exports;  for 
the  merchants,  not  receiving  their  goods  from  abroad,  are  in 
capacitated  from  purchasing  the  produce  of  the  country.  Among 
these  deplorable  effects  of  the  defenceless  and  humiliating  con 
dition  of  our  commerce  may  be,  moreover,  enumerated  the  im 
mense  loss  of  duties,  those  in  the  Two  Friends  alone  being 
estimated  by  the  collector  at  forty-five  thousand  dollars. 


224  The  New  Republic 

Your  memorialists  have  the  best  reasons  for  believing  that 
this  early  success,  experienced  by  these  French  privateers,  will 
immediately  allure  others  in  swarms  to  our  coast  and  bar,  to 
the  total  ruin  of  private  mercantile  concerns,  and  the  most  fatal 
defalcation  of  the  public  revenue.  Your  memorialists  have  no 
less  ground  for  apprehending  that  British  cruisers,  availing 
themselves  of  the  absence  of  domestic  protection,  will,  under 
the  color  of  expelling  the  French,  assume  and  occupy  their 
ground,  and  either  retain  us  in  the  same  degraded  state,  harass 
ing  our  vessels  by  searches  and  detention,  or  subject  us  to  the 
disgraceful  and  mortifying  obligations  of  gratitude  for  alien 
succor  and  relief. 

Your  memorialists  are  the  more  alarmed  at  these  depredations 
because  much  valuable  property  is  still  expected  this  summer 
from  other  quarters  than  London,  and  considerable  importations 
will  be  looked  for  in  the  fall,  for  our  winter  supplies.  .  .  . 

Your  memorialists,  having  thus  exhibited  but  an  imperfect 
view  of  their  ruinous,  unprotected  and  degraded  situation,  rely 
with  confidence  on  the  prompt  interposition  of  the  President,  to 
obtain,  by  representations  to  the  ministers  of  France  and  Spain 
(in  the  event  of  the  Two  Friends  being  carried  to  a  Spanish 
port)  restitution  of  the  said  ship  and  her  cargo,  and  to  cause  a 
stop  to  be  put  to  similar  spoliations.  .  .  . 

Thomas  Corbett,  President  of  the  South  Carolina 
Insurance  Company,  and  106  others 

The  wanton  attack  of  the  British  ship  Leopard  on  the 
American  frigate  Chesapeake  off  Hampton  Roads,  Vir 
ginia,  June  22,  1807,  in  which  three  men  were  killed 
and  eighteen  wounded  (including  the  Commodore,  James 
Barren)  may  be  called  the  opening  act  of  the  War  of  1812. 
The  British  government  later  repudiated  this  act,  recalled 
Admiral  Berkeley,  on  whose  authority  it  had  been  com 
mitted,  restored  the  two  surviving  sailors  impressed  from 
the  Chesapeake,  and  paid  an  indemnity  for  the  killed 
and  wounded.  The  following  extracts  are  from  papers 


Federalists  and  Republicans  225 

submitted  by  Robert  Smith,  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  to 
Thomas  Blount,  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Congress 
on  Aggressions,  relating  to  "the  outrage  committed  on 
the  frigate  Chesapeake'' 

British  Consul's  Office,  Norfolk  (Va)  March  6,  1807 
oiR  ; 

The  men  named  in  the  margin  [Ware,  Martin,  Strachan, 
Little]  deserted  sometime  since  from  His  Majesty's  ship 
Melampus,  in  Hampton  Roads,  by  running  away  with  her  gig, 
and  the  first  three  are  stated  to  have  entered  at  the  rendezvous, 
now  open  here,  for  the  enlistment  of  seamen  in  the  service  of 
the  United  States.  As  the  Melampus  is  at  present  in  Hampton 
Roads,  I  submit  to  you,  sir,  the  propriety  of  your  directing  these 
men  (should  they  have  entered  for  your  service)  to  be  returned 
to  their  duty  on  board  His  Majesty's  ship  before  mentioned.  I 
have  the  honor  to  remain,  with  perfect  truth  and  respect,  sir, 
Your  most  obedient  servant, 

™    ~     ,  .    _.  John  Hamilton* 

lo  Captain  Decatur 

The  cases  of  the  alleged  deserters  were  investigated,  and 
James  Barron,  commander  of  the  Chesapeake,  reported  to 
Secretary  Smith,  April  7,  that  Ware,  Martin,  and  Strachan 
were  all  Americans  who  had  been  "pressed"  on  board 
the  Melampus  at  various  times  and  places,  and  that  they 
had  escaped  to  the  shore  in  the  captain's  gig,  amid  "  a 
brisk  fire  of  musketry,"  while  an  entertainment  on  board 
was  diverting  the  attention  of  the  officers.  The  sequel  is 
told  in  Barren's  letter  to  Smith,  June  23,  1807,  written 
from  on  board  the  battered  Chesapeake  after  her  return 
to  the  bay. 

SIR: 

Yesterday  at  6  a.m.  the  wind  became  favorable,  and  knowing 
your  anxiety  that  the  ship  should  sail  with  all  possible  despatch, 
we  weighed  from  our  station  in  Hampton  Roads  and  stood  to 


226  The  New  Republic 

sea.  In  Lynnhaven  bay  we  passed  two  British  men  of  war,  one 
of  them  the  Bellona,  the  other  the  Melampus ;  their  colors  flying 
and  their  appearance  friendly.  Some  time  afterwards,  we  ob 
served  one  of  the  two  line-of-battle  ships  that  lay  off  Cape 
Henry,  to  get  under  way,  and  stand  to  sea ;  at  this  time  the 
wind  became  light,  and  it  was  not  until  near  four  in  the  after 
noon  that  the  ship  under  way  came  within  hail.  Cape  Henry 
then  bearing  north-west  by  west,  distance  three  leagues,  the 
communication  which  appeared  to  be  her  commander's  object 
for  speaking  the  Chesapeake,  he  said  he  would  send  on  board ; 
on  which  I  ordered  the  Chesapeake  to  be  hove  to  for  his  con 
venience.  On  the  arrival  of  the  officer  he  presented  me  with 
the  enclosed  paper1  from  the  captain  of  the  Leopard  ...  to 
which  I  gave  the  enclosed  answer  [denying  any  knowledge  of 
the  deserters  and  refusing  to  have  the  crew  of  any  ship  he  com 
manded  "  mustered  by  any  but  their  own  officers  "],  and  was 
waiting  for  his  reply.  About  this  time  I  observed  some  appear 
ance  of  a  hostile  nature,  and  said  to  Captain  Gordon  that  it 
was  possible  they  were  serious,  and  requested  him  to  have  his 
men  sent  to  their  quarters  with  as  little  noise  as  possible,  not 
using  those  ceremonies  which  we  should  have  done  with  an 
avowed  enemy,  as  I  fully  supposed  their  arrangements  were 
more  menace  than  anything  serious.  Captain  Gordon  immedi 
ately  gave  the  orders  to  the  men  and  officers  to  go  to  quarters, 
and  have  all  things  in  readiness ;  but  before  a  match  could  be 
lighted,  or  the  quarter-bill  of  any  division  examined,  or  the 
lumber  on  the  gun-deck,  such  as  sails,  cables,  &c.  could  be 
cleared,  the  commander  of  the  Leopard  hailed ;  I  could  not 
hear  what  he  said,  and  was  talking  to  him,  as  I  supposed, 
when  she  commenced  a  heavy  fire,  which  did  great  execution.2 


1  An  order  of  June  i,  1807,  published  by  Admiral  Berkeley,  who 
was  in  command  of  the  British  ships  in  American  waters,  authorizing 
all  captains  to  search  the  Chesapeake  on  the  high  seas  for  the  deserters 
from  the  British  ships. 

2  The    commission    appointed   to    examine   the  damage    done    the 
Chesapeake  reported  "  twenty-two  round  shot  in  her  hull,"  "  fore  and 
main  masts  incapable  of  being  made  sea-worthy,"  "  mizzen  mast  badly 
wounded,"  together  with  great  laceration  of  sails. 


Federalists  and  Republicans  227 

It  is  distressing  to  me  to  acknowledge,  that  I  found  that  the 
advantage  they  had  gained  over  our  unprepared  and  unsuspicious 
state,  did  not  warrant  a  longer  opposition ;  nor  should  I  have 
exposed  this  ship  and  crew  to  so  galling  a  fire  had  it  not  been 
with  the  hope  of  getting  the  gun-deck  clear,  so  as  to  have  made 
a  more  favorable  defence ;  consequently  our  resistance  was  but 
feeble.  In  about  twenty  minutes  after  I  ordered  the  colors  to 
be  struck,  and  sent  Lieutenant  Smith  on  board  the  Leopard  to 
inform  her  commander  that  I  considered  the  Chesapeake  her 
prize.  To  this  message  I  received  no  answer;  the  Leopard 's 
boat  soon  after  came  on  board,  and  the  officer  who  came  in 
her  demanded  the  muster  book.  I  replied  the  ship  and  books 
were  theirs,  and  that  if  he  expected  to  see  the  men  he  must  find 
them.  They  called  on  the  purser,  who  delivered  his  book,  and 
the  men  were  examined  ;  and  three  men  demanded  at  Washing 
ton,  and  one  man  more  were  taken  away.  .  .  . 

I  called  a  council  of  our  officers  and  requested  their  opinion 
relative  to  the  conduct  which  it  was  now  our  duty  to  pursue. 
The  result  was  that  the  ship  should  return  to  Hampton  Roads, 
and  there  wait  your  further  orders.  Enclosed  you  have  a  list  of 
the  unfortunate  killed  and  wounded,  as  also  a  statement  of  the 
damage  sustained  in  the  hull,  spars,  and  rigging  of  the  ship.  .  .  . 

With  great  respect,  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  your  obedient 
servant  James  Barron 

Jefferson  and  Madison  attempted  to  meet  the  British  57.  "Mr. 
and  French  aggressions  by  the  "  peaceful  war  "  of  embargo 
and  non-intercourse  acts.    It  was  Henry  Clay,  Speaker  of 
the  twelfth  Congress,  and  his  band  of  "war-hawks  "  who       I1841 
forced  the  hand  of  the  administration.  The  following  extract 
is  from  the  official  report  of  Clay's  speech  of  December  31, 
1 8 1 1,  on  the  bill  to  increase  the  army  of  the  United  States : 

Mr.  C.  [Clay]  proceeded  more  particularly  to  inquire  into  the 
object  of  the  force.  That  object,  he  understood,  to  be  war,  and 
war  with  Great  Britain.  .  .  .  What  are  we  to  gain  by  war,  has 
been  emphatically  asked.  In  reply,  he  would  ask,  what  are  we 


228  The  New  Republic 

not  to  lose  by  peace  ?  —  commerce,  character,  a  nation's  best 
treasure,  honor !  If  pecuniary  considerations  alone  are  to  govern, 
there  is  sufficient  motive  for  the  war.  Our  revenue  is  reduced, 
by  the  operation  of  the  belligerent  edicts,  to  about  six  million 
of  dollars,  according  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury's  report. 
The  year  preceding  the  embargo  [1807]  it  was  sixteen.  Take 
away  the  Orders  in  Council,  it  will  again  mount  up  to  sixteen 
millions.  By  continuing,  therefore,  in  peace,  if  the  mongrel  state 
in  which  we  are  deserves  that  denomination,  we  lose  annually, 
in  revenue  only,  ten  millions  of  dollars.  Gentlemen  will  say, 
repeal  the  law  of  non-importation.  He  contended  that,  if  the 
United  States  were  capable  of  that  perfidy,  the  revenue  would 
not  be  restored  to  its  former  state,  the  Orders  in  Council  con 
tinuing.  Without  an  export  trade,  which  those  orders  prevent, 
inevitable  ruin  would  ensue,  if  we  imported  as  freely  as  we  did 
prior  to  the  embargo.  A  nation  that  carries  on  an  import  trade 
without  an  export  trade  to  support  it,  must,  in  the  end,  be  as 
certainly  bankrupt  as  the  individual  would  be,  who  incurred  an 
annual  expenditure  without  an  income. 

He  had  no  disposition  to  swell,  or  dwell  upon  the  catalogue 
of  injuries  from  England.  He  could  not,  however,  overlook  the 
impressment  of  our  seamen  ;  an  aggression  upon  which  he  never 
reflected  without  feelings  of  indignation,  whigh  would  not  allow 
him  appropriate  language  to  describe  its  enormity.  Not  content 
with  seizing  upon  all  our  property,  which  falls  within  her  rapa 
cious  grasp,  the  personal  rights  of  our  countrymen  —  rights  which 
forever  ought  to  be  sacred,  are  trampled  upon  and  violated.  .  .  . 
We  are  required  to  bear  the  actual  cuffs  of  her  [England's] 
arrogance  that  we  may  escape  a  chimerical  French  subjugation. 
We  are  invited,  conjured  to  drink  the  potion  of  British  poison 
actually  presented  to  our  lips,  that  we  may  avoid  the  imperial 
[Napoleon's]  dose  prepared  by  perturbed  imaginations.  We  are 
called  on  to  submit  to  debasement,  dishonor,  and  disgrace  —  to 
bow  the  neck  to  royal  insolence,  as  a  course  of  preparation  for 
manly  resistance  to  Gallic  invasion  I  What  nation,  what  individual 
was  ever  taught,  in  the  schools  of  ignominious  submission,  the 
patriotic  lessons  of  freedom  and  independence  ?  ...  It  was  not 
by  submission  that  our  fathers  achieved  our  independence.  The 


Federalists  and  Republicans  229 

patriotic  wisdom  that  placed  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  said  Mr.  C., 
under  that  canopy,  penetrated  the  designs  of  a  corrupt  ministry, 
and  nobly  fronted  encroachment  on  its  first  appearance.  It  saw 
beyond  the  petty  taxes,  with  which  it  commenced,  a  long  train 
of  oppressive  measures  terminating  in  the  total  annihilation  of 
liberty.  .  .  .  For,  sir,  the  career  of  encroachment  is  never  arrested 
by  submission.  It  will  advance  while  there  remains  a  single 
privilege  on  which  it  can  operate. 

Gentlemen  say  that  this  government  is  unfit  for  any  war,  but 
a  war  of  invasion.  What,  is  it  not  equivalent  to  an  invasion,  if 
the  mouths  of  our  harbors  and  outlets  are  blocked  up,  and  we 
are  denied  egress  from  our  own  waters  ?  Or  when  the  burglar 
is  at  our  door,  shall  we  bravely  sally  forth  and  repel  his  felonious 
entrance,  or  meanly  skulk  within  the  cells  of  the  castle  ? 

He  contended  that  the  real  cause  of  British  aggression,  was 
not  to  distress  an  enemy  but  to  destroy  a  rival.  . .  .  She  [England] 
sickens  at  your  prosperity,  and  beholds  in  your  growth  —  your 
sails  spread  on  every  ocean,  and  your  numerous  seamen  —  the 
foundations  of  a  power,  which  at  no  very  distant  day  is  to  make 
her  tremble  for  naval  superiority.  .  .  . 

It  is  said  that  the  effect  of  the  war  at  home  will  be  a  change 
in  those  who  administer  the  Government,  who  will  be  replaced 
by  others,  who  will  make  a  disgraceful  peace.  He  did  not  believe 
it.  ...  He  was  one,  however,  who  was  prepared  ...  to  march 
on  in  the  road  of  his  duty,  at  all  hazards.  What !  shall  it  be  said 
that  our  amor  patriae  is  located  at  these  desks  —  that  we  pusil- 
lanimously  cling  to  our  seats  here,  rather  than  boldly  vindicate 
the  most  inestimable  rights  of  the  country  ? 

After  an  explicit  statement  by  the  British  minister  in  58.  Madi- 
May,   1812,  that  "  Great  Britain  would  not  recede  from  "^al" 
its  policy  toward  neutrals,"  that  is,  would  not  cease  to  June  *»  l812 
stop  and  search  American  merchant  ships  on  the  high       I1841 
seas,  Madison  sent  a  confidential  message  to  Congress, 
in  which  he  reviewed  the  outrages  of  Great  Britain  on 
our  commerce,  ever  since  the  renewal  of  her  war  with 
Napoleon  in  1803,  and  recounted  the  vain  efforts  made 


230  The  New  Republic 

by  this  government  to  come  to  an  honorable  agreement. 
The  message  concludes : 

Such  is  the  spectacle  of  injuries  and  indignities  which  have 
been  heaped  upon  our  country ;  and  such  the  crisis  which  its 
unexampled  forbearance  and  conciliatory  efforts  have  not  been 
able  to  avert.  It  might  at  least  have  been  expected,  that  an  en 
lightened  nation,  if  less  urged  by  moral  obligations,  or  invited  by 
friendly  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  would  have 
found,  in  its  true  interest  alone,  a  sufficient  motive  to  respect  their 
rights  and  their  tranquillity  on  the  high  seas ;  that  an  enlarged 
policy  would  have  favored  that  free  and  general  circulation  of 
commerce  in  which  the  British  nation  is  at  all  times  interested, 
and  which,  in  times  of  war,  is  the  best  alleviation  of  its  calamities 
to  herself,  as  well  as  to  other  belligerents  ;  and,  more  especially, 
that  the  British  Cabinet  would  not,  for  the  sake  of  a  precarious 
and  surreptitious  intercourse  with  hostile  markets,  have  per 
severed  in  a  course  of  measures  which  necessarily  put  at  hazard 
the  invaluable  market  of  a  great  and  growing  country,  disposed 
to  cultivate  the  mutual  advantages  of  an  active  commerce. 

Other  councils  have  prevailed.  Our  moderation  and  concili 
ation  have  had  no  other  effect  than  to  encourage  perseverance 
and  to  enlarge  pretensions.  We  behold  our  sea-faring  citizens 
still  the  daily  victims  of  lawless  violence,  committed  on  the  great 
and  common  highway  of  nations,  even  within  sight  of  the  country 
which  owes  them  protection.  We  behold  our  vessels,  freighted 
with  the  products  of  our  soil  and  industry,  or  returning  with 
the  honest  proceeds  of  them,  wrested  from  their  lawful  desti 
nations,  confiscated  by  prize  courts,  no  longer  the  organs  of 
public  law,  but  the  instruments  of  arbitrary  edicts,  and  their 
unfortunate  crews  dispersed  and  lost,  or  forced  or  inveigled  in 
British  ports  into  British  fleets,  whilst  arguments  are  employed 
in  support  of  these  aggressions,  which  have  no  foundation  but 
in  a  principle  equally  supporting  a  claim  to  regulate  our  external 
commerce  in  all  cases  whatsoever. 

We  behold,  in  fine,  on  the  side  of  Great  Britain,  a  state  of 
war  against  the  United  States ;  and  on  the  side  of  the  United 
States,  a  state  of  peace  towards  Great  Britain. 


Federalists  and  Republicans  231 

Whether  the  United  States  shall  continue  passive  under  these 
progressive  usurpations,  and  these  accumulating  wrongs,  or, 
opposing  force  to  force  in  defence  of  their  natural  rights,  shall 
commit  a  just  cause  into  the  hands  of  the  Almighty  Disposer 
of  events,  avoiding  all  connexions  which  might  entangle  it  m 
the  contests  or  views  of  other  Powers,  and  preserving  a  constant 
readiness  to  concur  in  an  honorable  re-establishment  of  peace 
and  friendship,  is  a  solemn  question,  which  the  Constitution 
wisely  confides  to  the  Legislative  Department  of  the  Govern 
ment.  In  recommending  it  to  their  early  deliberations,  I  am 
happy  in  the  assurance,  that  the  decision  will  be  worthy  the 
enlightened  and  patriotic  councils  of  a  virtuous,  a  free,  and  a 
powerful  nation.  .  .  . 

James  Madison 


PART  IV.    NATIONAL    VERSUS 
SECTIONAL  INTERESTS 


PART  IV.    NATIONAL  VERSUS 
SECTIONAL  INTERESTS 

CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  GROWTH  OF  A  NATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS 

A  NEW  AMERICAN  SPIRIT 

In  the  two  decades   following   our   second   war  with  59.  British 
England,  when  the  land  between  the  Alleghenies  and  the  ^rTca  °f 
Mississippi  was  rapidly  filling  up,  America  was  most  con-  1820-1837 
spicuously  a  pioneer  community.  Social  amenities,  polished       [1911 
manners,  literary  and  artistic  ambitions,  were  all  in  abeyance 
before  the  stern  necessity  of  coping  with  the  actual  physical 
task  of  building  a  home,  a  city,  an  empire  of  the  West.  Our 
many  British  visitors  and  critics  in  this  period  judged  our 
pioneer  community  harshly  —  the  more  harshly,  perhaps, 
as  it  supplemented  a  rather  breezy  confidence  in  Yankee 
push  and  shrewdness  with  the  boastful,  persistent  reminder 
that  America  had  twice  brought  Great  Britain  to  treat 
for  peace.'    In  a  review  of  Adam  Seybert's  "  Statistical 
Annals  of 'the  United  States,"  published  at  Philadelphia 
in  1818,  Sydney  Smith  writes  in  the  Edinburgh  Review 
for  January,  1820:  J 

Jonathan  must  not  grow  vain  and  ambitious;  or  allow  himself 
to  be  dazzled  by  that  galaxy  of  epithets  by  which  his  orators  and 
newspaper  scribblers  endeavor  to  persuade  their  supporters  that 

235 


236  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

they  are  the  greatest,  the  most  refined,  the  most  enlightened, 
and  the  most  moral  people  upon  earth.  The  effect  of  this  is 
unspeakably  ludicrous  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  —  and  even 
on  the  other,  we  should  imagine,  must  be  rather  humiliating 
to  the  reasonable  part  of  the  population.  The  Americans  are  a 
brave,  industrious,  and  acute  people ;  "But  they  have  hitherto 
given  no  indications  of  genius,  and  made  no  approaches  to  the 
heroic,  either  in  their  morality  or  character.  They  are  but  a 
recent  offset,  indeed,  from  England ;  and  should  make  it  their 
chief  boast,  for  many  generations  to  come,  that  they  are  sprung 
from  the  same  race  with  Bacon  and  Shakespeare  and  Newton. 
Considering  their  numbers,  indeed,  and  the  favorable  circum 
stances  in  which  they  have  been  placed,  they  have  yet  done 
marvellously  little  to  assert  the  honor  of  such  a  descent,  or  to 
show  that  their  English  blood  has  been  exalted  or  refined  by 
their  republican  training  and  institutions.  Their  Franklins  and 
Washingtons,  and  all  the  other  sages  and  heroes  of  their  revo 
lution,  were  born  and  bred  subjects  of  the  King  of  England, — 
and  not  among  the  freest  or  most  valued  of  his  subjects.  And, 
since  the  period  of  their  separation,  a  far  greater  proportion 
of  their  statesmen  and  artists  and  political  writers  have  been 
foreigners,  than  ever  occurred  before  in  the  history  of  any  civi 
lized  and  educated  people.  During  the  thirty  or  forty  years  of 
their  independence,  they  have  done  absolutely  nothing  for  the 
Sciences,  for  the  Arts,  for  Literature,  or  even  for  the  statesman 
like  studies  of  Politics  or  Political  Economy.  .  .  . 

In  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe,  who  reads  an  American 
book  ?  or  goes  to  an  American  play  ?  or  looks  at  an  American  pic 
ture  or  statue?  What  does  the  world  yet  owe  to  American 
physicians  or  surgeons  ?  What  new  substances  have  their  chem 
ists  discovered,  or  what  old  ones  have  they  analyzed  ?  What 
new  constellations  have  been  discovered  by  the  telescopes  of 
Americans  ?  —  What  have  they  done  in  the  mathematics  ?  Who 
drinks  out  of  American  glasses  ?  or  eats  from  American  plates  ? 
or  wears  American  coats  or  gowns  ?  or  sleeps  in  American  blan 
kets? —  Finally,  under  which  of  the  old  tyrannical  governments 
of  Europe  is  every  sixth  man  a  slave,  whom  his  fellow-creatures 
may  buy  and  sell  and  torture  ? 


The  Growth  of  a  National  Consciousness         237 

When  these  questions  are  fairly  and  favorably  answered,  their 
laudatory  epithets  may  be  allowed :  But,  till  that  can  be  done, 
we  would  seriously  advise  them  to  keep  clear  of  superlatives. 

j^  One  of  our  most  unsparing  critics  was  Mrs.  F.  M.  Trol- 
lope,  an  English  novelist  and  mother  of  the  more  famous 
Anthony  Trollope,  who  lived  three  years  (1828-1831)  in 
the  new  town  of  Cincinnati,  "  the  western  limit  of  our  civi 
lization."  Mrs.  Trollope  found  the  people  among  whom 
she  lived  harsh,  uncouth,  unfeeling,  conceited,  boastful, 
tricky,  and  sanctimonious.1  Her  stay  in  America  con 
firmed  her  in  the  aristocratic  faith  that  "  the  advantages 
of  life  are  on  the  side  of  those  who  are  governed  by  the 
few,"  and  that  "degradation  invariably  follows  the  wild 
scheme  of  placing  all  the  power  of  the  State  in  the  hands 
of  the  populace." 

My  general  appellation  amongst  my  neighbors  was  "  the 
English  old  woman,"  but  in  mentioning  each  other  they  con 
stantly  employed  the  term  "  lady  " ;  and  they  evidently  had  a 
pleasure  in  using  it,  for  I  repeatedly  observed,  that  in  speaking 
of  a  neighbor,  instead  of  saying  Mrs.  Such-a-one,  they  described 
her  as  "  the  lady  over  the  way  what  takes  in  washing,"  or  as 
"  that  there  lady,  out  by  the  gully,  what  is  making  dip-candles." 
.  .  .  Our  respective  titles  certainly  were  not  very  important ;  but 
the  eternal  shaking  hands  with  these  ladies  and  gentlemen  was 
really  an  annoyance,  and  the  more  so,  as  the  near  approach  of 
the  gentlemen  was  always  redolent  of  whiskey  and  tobacco. 

But  the  point  where  this  republican  equality  was  the  most 
distressing  was  in  the  long  and  frequent  visitations  that  it  pro 
duced.  No  one  dreams  of  fastening  a  door  in  Western  America ; 
I  was  told  that  it  would  be  considered  as  an  affront  by  the  whole 

1  Charles  Dickens,  in  "  Martin  Chuzzlewit,"  paints  a  very  unflattering 
picture  of  western  American  society  (1844).  "One  might  almost  fancy," 
says  II.  T.  Peck  in  his  introduction  to  Mrs.  Trollope's  memoirs,  "that 
Mrs.  Trollope's  descriptions  are  the  material  from  which  the  more  highly 
colored  pictures  of  Dickens  were  elaborated." 


238  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

neighborhood.  I  was  thus  exposed  to  perpetual,  and  most  vex 
atious  interruptions  from  people  whom  I  had  often  never  seen, 
and  whose  names  still  oftener  were  unknown  to  me.  ...  If  it 
was  a  female,  she  took  off  her  hat ;  if  a  male,  he  kept  it  on,  and 
then  taking  possession  of  the  first  chair  in  their  way,  they  would 
retain  it  for  an  hour  together,  without  uttering  another  word ; 
at  length,  rising  abruptly,  they  would  again  shake  hands,  with, 
"  Well,  now  I  must  be  going,  I  guess,"  and  so  take  themselves 
off,  apparently  well  contented  with  their  reception.  .  .  . 

There  was  one  man  whose  progress  in  wealth  I  watched  with 
much  interest  and  pleasure.  When  I  first  became  his  neighbor, 
himself,  his  wife,  and  four  children  were  living  in  one  room,  with 
plenty  of  beef-steaks  and  onions  for  breakfast,  dinner,  and  supper, 
but  with  very  few  other  comforts.  He  was  one  of  the  finest 
men  I  ever  saw,  full  of  natural  intelligence  and  activity  of  mind 
and  body,  but  he  could  neither  read  nor  write.  ...  I  have  no 
doubt  that  every  sun  that  sets  sees  him  a  richer  man  than  when 
it  rose.  He  hopes  to  make  his  son  a  lawyer ;  and  I  have  little 
doubt  that  he  will  live  to  see  him  sit  in  Congress.  When  this  time 
arrives,  the  wood-cutter's  son  will  rank  with  any  other  member 
of  Congress,  not  of  courtesy,  but  of  right.  .  .  . 

This  is  the  only  feature  in  American  society  that  I  recognize 
as  indicative  of  the  equality  they  profess.  Any  man's  son^may 
become  the  equal  of  any  other  man's  son ;  and  the  consciousness 
of  this  is  certainly  a  spur  to  exertion :  on  the  other  hand  it  is 
also  a  spur  to  that  coarse  familiarity,  untempered  by  any  shadow 
of  respect,  which  is  assumed  by  the  grossest  and  the  lowest  in 
their  intercourse  with  the  highest  and  most  refined.  This  is  a 
positive  evil,  and,  I  think,  more  than  balances  its  advantages.  . .  . 

In  reading  Capt.  Hall's  volumes  on  America,1  the  observation 
which,  I  think,  struck  me  the  most  forcibly  .  .  .  was  the  follow 
ing  :  "  In  all  my  travels  both  amongst  Heathens,  and  amongst 
Christians,  I  never  encountered  any  people  by  whom  I  found 
it  nearly  so  difficult  to  make  myself  understood  as  by  the  Ameri 
cans."  ...  It  is  less  necessary,  I  imagine,  for  the  mutual  under 
standing  of  persons  conversing  together,  that  the  language  should 

1  Captain  Basil  Hall,  Travels  in  North  America  in  the  Years  1827  and 
1828,  3  vols.  Edinburgh,  1829. 


The  Growth  of  a  National  Consciousness         239 

be  the  same,  than  that  their  ordinary  mode  of  thinking,  and 
habits  of  life,  should,  in  some  degree,  assimilate;  whereas,  in 
point  of  fact,  there  is  hardly  a  single  point  of  sympathy  between 
the  Americans  and  us.  ...  Herein,  I  think,  rests  the  only  apology 
for  the  preposterous  and  undignified  anger  felt  and  expressed 
against  Capt.  Hall's  work.  They  really  cannot,  even  if  they 
wished  it,  enter  into  any  of  his  views  or  comprehend  his  most 
ordinary  feelings ;  and  therefore  they  cannot  believe  in  the 
sincerity  of  the  impressions  he  describes. 

A  more  sympathetic,  if  not  much  more  favorable,  view 
of  Americans  is  presented  by  the  indefatigable  traveler  and 
novelist,  Captain  Marryat,  who  visited  us  in  1837  : 

The  Americans  are  often  themselves  the  cause  of  their  being 
misrepresented ;  there  is  no  country  perhaps  in  which  the  habit 
of  deceiving  for  amusement,  or  what  is  termed  hoaxing,  is  so 
common.  Indeed  this  and  hyperbole  constitute  the  major  part 
of  American  humor.  If  they  have  the  slightest  suspicion  that  a 
foreigner  is  about  to  write  a  book,  nothing  appears  to  give  them 
so  much  pleasure  as  to  try  to  mislead  him.  .  .  .  When  I  was 
at  Boston,  a  gentleman  of  my  acquaintance  brought  me  Miss 
Martineau's  work,1  and  was  excessively  delighted  when  he 
pointed  out  to  me  two  pages  of  fallacies,  which  he  had  told  her 
with  a  grave  face  and  which  she  had  duly  recorded  and  printed. . . . 

Another  difficulty  and  cause  of  misrepresentation  is,  that 
travellers  are  not  aware  of  the  jealousy  existing  between  the 
inhabitants  of  the  different  states  and  cities.  The  eastern  states 

1  Harriet  Martineau,  Society  in  America,  3  vols.  London,  1837. 
Capt.  Marryat  cut  from  a  New  York  newspaper  in  1837  this  notice: 
"  That  old  deaf  English  maiden  lady,  Miss  Martineau,  who  travelled 
through  some  of  the  States  a  few  years  since,  gives  a  full  account  of 
Mr.  Poindexter's  death ;  unfortunately  for  her  veracity,  the  gentleman 
still  lives;  but  this  is  about  as  near  the  truth  as  the  majority  of  her  state 
ments.  The  Loafing  English  men  and  women  who  visit  America,  as 
penny-a-liners,  are  perfectly  understood  here,  and  Jonathan  amuses  him 
self  whenever  he  meets  them,  by  imposing  upon  their  credulity  the  most 
absurd  stories  which  he  can  invent,  which  they  swallow  whole,  go  home 
with  their  eyes  sticking  out  of  their  heads  with  wonder,  and  print  all  they 
have  heard  for  the  benefit  of  John  Bull's  calves." 


240  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

pronounce  the  southerners  to  be  choleric,  reckless,  regardless  of 
law  and  indifferent  to  religion ;  while  the  southerners  designate 
the  eastern  states  as  a  nursery  of  overreaching  pedlars,  selling 
clocks  and  wooden  nutmegs.  .  .  .  Boston  turns  up  her  erudite 
nose  at  New  York ;  Philadelphia  in  her  pride  looks  down  on 
both  New  York  and  Boston ;  while  New  York,  chinking  her 
dollars,  swears  the  Bostonians  are  a  parcel  of  puritanical  prigs, 
and  the  Philadelphians  a  would-be  aristocracy.  A  western  man 
from  Kentucky,  when  at  the  Tremont  House  in  Boston,  begged 
me  particularly  not  to  pay  attention  to  what  they  said  of  his  state 
in  that  quarter.  Both  a  Virginian  and  Tennesseean,  when  I  was 
at  New  York,  did  the  same.  .  .  . 

America  is  a  wonderful  country,  endowed  by  the  Omnipotent 
with  natural  advantages  which  no  other  can  boast  of ;  and  the 
mind  can  hardly  calculate  upon  the  degree  of  perfection  and 
power  to  which,  whether  the  States  are  eventually  separated  or 
not,  it  may  in  the  course  of  two  centuries  arrive.  At  present  all 
is  energy  and  enterprise.  ...  If  I  were  to  draw  a  comparison  be 
tween  the  English  and  the  Americans,  I  should  say  that  there  is 
almost  as  much  difference  between  the  two  nations  at  this  present 
time,  as  there  has  long  been  between  the  English  and  the  Dutch. 
The  latter  are  considered  by  us  as  phlegmatic  and  slow  ;  and  we 
may  be  considered  the  same  compared  with  our  energetic  descend 
ants.  Time  to  an  American  is  everything,  and  space  he  attempts 
to  reduce  to  a  mere  nothing.  ...  "Go  ahead! "  IL  the  real  motto 
of  the  country.  . . .  The  American  lives  twice  as  long  as  others; 
for  he  does  twice  the  work  during  the  time  that  he  lives. ...  He 
rises  early,  eats  his  meals  with  the  rapidity  of  a  wolf,  and  is  the 
whole  day  at  his  business.  If  he  be  a  merchant,  his  money,  what 
ever  it  amount  to,  is  seldom  invested  ;  it  is  all  floating  —  his  ac 
cumulations  remain  active ;  and  when  he  dies,  his  wealth  has  to 
be  collected  from  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe.  .  .  .  Each  man 
would  surpass  his  neighbour ;  and  the  only  great  avenue  open 
to  all,  and  into  which  thousands  may  press  without  much  jostling 
of  each  other,  is  that  which  leads  to  the  shrine  of  Mammon. 

There  is  no  more  accurate  gauge  of  the  prosperity  of 
our  Middle  West  in  the  period  under  consideration  than  the 


The  Growth  of  a  National  Consciousness         241 

statistics  of  commerce  on  the  great  Mississippi  River  system.  60.  The  river 
During  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  trans-  Orleans, 
portation  in  America  was  based  on  the  waterways,  and  the  1816-1840 
few  short  stretches  of  railway  served  chiefly  to  connect 
points  of  navigation  on  the  rivers,  New  Orleans  became 
the  queen  city  of  commerce  in  the  South,  as  New  York 
did  in  the  North.     The  report  of  1887  on  the  internal 
commerce  of  the  United  States  thus  reviews  the  trade  of 
New  Orleans  : 

The  receipts  of  New  Orleans  during  the  first  year  of  success 
ful  steam  navigation,  1816,  amounted  in  value  to  $8,062,540.  .  .  . 
This  is  independent  of  the  produce  raised  in  Louisiana,  such  as 
cotton,  corn,  indigo,  molasses,  rice,  sugar,  tafia  or  rum,  and 
lumber.  These  were  brought  to  the  market  in  the  planters'  crafts, 
and  often  taken  from  the  plantation  direct  in  foreign-bound 
vessels.  .  .  .  The  value  of  the  receipts  shows  to  what  extent 
the  produce  of  the  West  passed  through  New  Orleans.  Cotton, 
which  in  later  days  rose  to  be  60  or  even  75  per  cent,  in  value 
of  all  the  receipts,  was  then  barely  12  per  cent.  At  least  80  per 
cent,  of  the  articles  came  from  the  West,  that  is  from  the  Ohio, 
and  the  Upper  Mississippi,  above  the  Ohio.  They  represented 
the  surplus  products  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  for  but  little  found 
any  other  exit  to  market.  Much  of  the  product  shipped  from 
the*  West  to  New  Orleans  was  lost  en  route.  A  rough  estimate 
places  the  loss  from  disasters,  snags,  etc.  at  20  per  cent.  Many 
boats,  moreover,  stopped  along  the  river  on  their  way  down  to 
sell  supplies  to  the  planters.  Thus  at  Natchez  flour,  grain,  and 
pork  were  purchased  from  the  Kentucky  boats.  From  these 
losses  the  sales  and  shipments  down  the  river  in  1816,  including 
the  products  of  Louisiana,  may  be  estimated  at  $13,875,000. 
The  river  traffic  required  6  steam-boats,  594  barges,  and  1287 
flat-boats,  of  an  actual  tonnage  of  87,670.  .  .  . 

During  all  this  period  [1816-1840],  and  despite  all  these  diffi 
culties,  the  number  of  arrivals  at  New  Orleans  and  the  amount  of 
river  business  on  the  Lower  Mississippi  continued  to  steadily  in 
crease.  The  growth  of  the  river  traffic  is  well  shown  in  this  table: 


242 


National  versus  Sectional  Interests 


Years 

Arrivals  of  Steamboats 

Tons  of  Freight 

Value  of  Produce 

1816-1817       .      . 

80,820 

$8,773*379 

1820-1821       .      . 

202 

99,320 

11,967,067 

1825-1826       .      . 

608 

193,300 

20,446,320 

1830-1831       .      . 

778 

307,300 

26,044,820 

1835-1836       .      . 

I272 

437,100 

39,237,762 

1840-1841       .      . 

1958 

542,500 

49,822,115 

In  regard  to  the  steam-boats,  it  should  be  remembered  that  the 
steady  increase  in  arrivals  each  year  does  not  fully  express 
the  increase  in  tonnage,  because  the  boats  were  not  only  growing 
more  numerous,  but  were  increasing  in  size  each  year,  and  thus 
while  they  doubled  in  number  between  1825  and  1833,  they 
more  than  trebled  in  their  carrying  capacity.  .  .  . 

As  the  first  two  decades  of  the  century  showed  the  settlement 
of  the  Ohio  basin,  and  a  rapid  increase  in  population  and  pro 
duction,  so  the  next  two  resulted  in  the  settlement  of  the  Lower 
Mississippi  region  from  Louisiana  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio. 
The  removal  of  the  Indian  trib'es  to  the  Indian  Territory,  the 
building  of  levees  and  the  immense  increase  in  the  demand  for 
cotton,  hastened  the  development  of  West  Tennessee,  Mississippi, 
Arkansas,  and  Northern  Louisiana.  .  .  . 

It  was  during  this  period  that  the  South  first  began  to  insist 
on  the  sovereignty  of  King  Cotton,  and  New  Orleans  claimed, 
like  Mahomet,  to  be  its  prophet.  The  rapid  development  of  the 
cotton  manufacturing  industries  in  Europe  incited  the  planters 
to  devote  more  and  more  acres  to  it,  and  it  became  highly  prof 
itable  to  cultivate  cotton  even  on  credit.  New  Orleans  was  over 
flowing  with  money  in  those  flush  times,  and  lent  it  readily.  .  .  . 
When  the  big  collapse  of  1837  came,  the  banks  of  New  Orleans, 
with  a  circulation  of  $7,000,000,  purported  to  have  a  capital  of 
$34,000,000,  a  great  majority  of  them  being  wrecked  in  the 
storm.  Within  a  few  years,  however,  New  Orleans  had  recovered 
from  the  shock  and  strengthened  its  hold  on  the  planters.  .  .  . 

That  eminent  statistical  and  economical  authority,  De  Bow's 
Review,  declared  that  "  no  city  of  the  world  has  ever  advanced 
as  a  mart  of  commerce  with  such  gigantic  and  rapid  strides  as 


The  Growth  of  a  National  Consciousness        243 

New  Orleans."  It  was  no  idle  boast.  Between  1830  and  1840 
no  city  of  the  United  States  kept  pace  with  it.  When  the  census 
was  taken  it  was  fourth  in  population,  exceeded  only  by  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore,  and  fourth  in  point  of  com 
merce  of  the  ports  of  the  world,  exceeded  only  by  London, 
Liverpool,  and  New  York,  being  indeed  but  a  short  distance 
behind  the  latter  city,  and  ahead  of  it  in  the  export  of  domestic 
products. 

The  following  extracts  from  decisions  of  the  Supreme  ei.  The 
Court,  rendered  by  Chief  Justice  Marshall  and  Justice 
Story,  in  the  cases  of  Martin  vs.  Hunter's  Lessee  (1816), 
McCulloch  vs.  Maryland  (1819),  and  Gibbons  vs.  Ogden  I824 
(1824),  illustrate  how  judicial  interpretation  of  the  Con-       [199] 
stitution  stretched  the  meaning  of  the  simple  language  of 
its  clauses,  much  to  the  alarm  and  indignation  of  the  "strict 
constructionists  "  of  Jefferson's  following. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  ordained  and 
established,  not  by  the  states  in  their  sovereign  capacities,  but 
emphatically,  as  the  preamble  of  the  Constitution  declares,  by 
"the  people  of  the  United  States."  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  it  was  competent  to  the  people  to  invest  the  general  gov 
ernment  with  all  the  powers  which  they  might  deem  proper 
and  necessary ;  to  extend  or  restrain  these  powers  according  to 
their  own  good  pleasure,  and  to  give  them  a  paramount  and 
supreme  authority.  As  little  doubt  can  there  be,  that  the  people 
had  a  right  to  prohibit  to  the  states  the  exercise  of  any  powers 
which  were,  in  their  judgment,  incompatible  with  the  objects  of 
the  general  compact.  .  .  .  The  Constitution  was  not,  therefore, 
necessarily  carved  out  of  existing  state  sovereignties,  nor  a  sur 
render  of  powers  already  existing  in  state  institutions,  for  the 
powers  of  the  states  depend  on  their  own  constitutions;  and 
the  people  of  every  state  had  the  right  to  modify  and  restrain 
them,  according  to  their  own  views  of  policy  and  principle.  .  .  . 
The  government,  then,  of  the  United  States  can  claim  no 
powers  which  are  not  granted  to  it  by  the  Constitution.  .  .  . 


244  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

On  the  other  hand,  this  instrument,  like  every  other  grant,  is 
to  have  a  reasonable  construction,  according  to  the  import  of 
its  terms.  .  .  .  The  Constitution  unavoidably  deals  in  general 
language.  It  did  not  suit  the  purposes  of  the  people,  in  framing 
this  great  charter  of  our  liberties,  to  provide  for  minute  specifi 
cations  of  its  powers.  .  .  .  [It]  was  not  intended  to  provide 
merely  for  the  exigencies  of  a  few  years,  but  was  to  endure 
through  a  long  lapse  of  ages.  ...  It  could  not  be  foreseen 
what  new  changes  and  modifications  of  power  might  be  indis 
pensable  to  effectuate  the  general  objects  of  the  charter.  .  .  . 
Hence  its  powers  are  expressed  in  general  terms.  .  .  . 

It  is  a  mistake  that  the  Constitution  was  not  designed  to 
operate  upon  states  in  their  corporate  capacities.  It  is  crowded 
with  provisions  which  restrain  or  annul  the  sovereignty  of  the 
states  in  some  of  the  highest  branches  of  their  prerogatives. 
The  tenth  section  of  the  first  article  contains  a  long  list  of  dis 
abilities  and  prohibitions  imposed  on  the  states.  .  .  .  When,  there 
fore,  the  states  are  stripped  of  some  of  the  highest  attributes  of 
sovereignty,  and  the  same  are  given  to  the  United  States  ;  when 
the  legislatures  of  the  states  are,  in  some  respects,  under  the 
control  of  Congress  ...  it  is  certainly  difficult  to  support  the 
argument  that  the  appellate  power  over  the  decisions  of  state 
courts  is  contrary  to  the  genius  of  our  institutions.  .  .  . 

We  admit,  as  all  must  admit,  that  the  powers  of  the  govern 
ment  are  limited,  and  that  its  limits  are  not  to  be  transcended. 
But  we  think  the  sound  construction  of  the  Constitution  must 
allow  to  the  national  legislature  that  discretion  with  respect  to 
the  means  by  which  the  powers  it  confers  are  to  be  carried 
into  execution,  which  will  enable  that  body  to  perform  the  high 
duties  assigned  to  it,  in  the  manner  most  beneficial  to  the  peo 
ple.  Let  the  end  be  legitimate,  let  it  be  within  the  scope  of 
the  Constitution,  and  all  means  which  are  appropriate  .  .  .  are 
constitutional. 

If  we  apply  the  principle  for  which  the  State  of  Maryland 
contends  to  the  Constitution  generally,  we  shall  find  it  capable 
of  changing  totally  the  character  of  that  instrument.  We  shall 
find  it  capable  of  arresting  all  the  measures  of  the  government, 
and  of  prostrating  it  at  the  foot  of  the  States.  The  American 


The  Growth  of  a  National  Consciousness        245 

people  have  declared  their  Constitution,  and  the  laws  made  in 
pursuance  thereof,  to  be  supreme;  but  this  principle  would 
transfer  the  supremacy,  in  fact,  to  the  States.  If  the  States 
may  tax  one  instrument  employed  by  the  government  in  the 
execution  of  its  powers,  they  may  tax  any  and  every  other  in 
strument.  They  may  tax  the  mail;  they  may  tax  the  mint; 
they  may  tax  patent  rights;  they  may  tax  the  papers  of  the 
custom-house.  .  .  .  This  was  not  intended  by  the  American 
people.  They  did  not  design  to  make  their  government  de 
pendent  on  the  States.  .  .  . 

The  Court  has  bestowed  on  this  subject  its  most  deliberate 
consideration.  The  result  is  a  conviction  that  the  States  have 
no  power,  by  taxation  or  otherwise,  to  retard,  impede,  burden, 
or  in  any  manner  control  the  operations  of  the  constitutional 
laws  enacted  by  Congress  to  carry  into  execution  the  powers 
vested  in  the  general  government.  .  .  .  We  are  unanimously  of 
the  opinion,  that  the  law  passed  by  the  legislature  of  Maryland, 
imposing  a  tax  on  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  is  unconsti 
tutional  and  void.  .  .  . 

The  acts  of  New  York  must  yield  to  the  laws  of  Congress ; 
and  the  decision  sustaining  the  privilege  they  confer,  against  a 
right  given  by  a  law  of  the  Union,  must  be  erroneous. 

This  opinion  has  been  frequently  expressed  in  this  Court, 
and  is  founded  as  well  on  the  nature  of  the  government  as  on 
the  words  of  the  Constitution.  .  .  .  The  nullity  of  any  act  in 
consistent  with  the  Constitution  is  produced  by  the  declaration, 
that  the  Constitution  is  the  supreme  law ;  .  .  .  and  the  law  of 
the  State,  though  enacted  in  the  exercise  of  powers  not  contro 
verted,  must  yield  to  it. 

Thomas  Jefferson,  in  a  letter  to  his  friend  Thomas 
Ritchie,  protests  against  what  he  considers  a  dangerous 
usurpation  of  power  by  the  Supreme  Court : 

Monticello,  Dec.  25,  1820 

.  .  .  The  judiciary  of  the  United  States  is  the  subtle  corps 
of  sappers  and  miners  constantly  working  under  ground  to 
undermine  the  foundations  of  our  confederated  fabric.  They 


246  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

are  construing  our  constitution  from  a  coordination  of  a  gen 
eral  and  special  government  to  a  general  and  supreme  one 
alone.  This  will  lay  all  things  at  their  feet,  and  they  are  too  well 
versed  in  the  English  law  to  forget  the  maxim  boni  judiris  est 
ampliare  jurisdictionem}  .  .  .  Having  found,  from  experience, 
that  impeachment  is  an  impracticable  thing,  a  mere  scare-crow, 
they  consider  themselves  secure  for  life ; 2  they  skulk  from  re 
sponsibility  to  public  opinion.  ...  An  opinion  is  huddled  up  in 
conclave,  perhaps  by  a  majority  of  one,  delivered  as  if  unani 
mous,  and  with  the  silent  acquiescence  of  lazy  or  timid  asso 
ciates,  by  a  crafty  chief  judge,  who  sophisticates  the  law  to  his 
mind,  by  the  turn  of  his  own  reasoning.  A  judiciary  law  was 
once  reported  by  the  Attorney-General  to  Congress,  requiring 
each  judge  to  deliver  his  opinion  seriatim  [in  order]  and  openly, 
and  then  to  give  it  in  writing  to  the  clerk  to  be  entered  in  the 
record.  A  judiciary  independent  of  a  king  or  executive  alone,  is 
a  good  thing ;  but  independence  of  the  will  of  the  nation  is  a 
solecism,  at  least  in  a  republican  government.  .  .  . 

I  hope  our  political  bark  will  ride  through  all  its  dangers ; 
but  I  can  in  future  be  but  an  inert  passenger. 

I  salute  you  with  sentiments  of  great  friendship  and  respect. 

Thos  Jefferson 

THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE 

62.  The  General  Jackson's  zealous  prosecution  of  the  campaign 

put",  i8i<Jl    against  the  hostile  combination  of  Indians,  escaped  negroes, 
I8l9  Spaniards,  and  half-breeds  in  Florida,  at  the  close  of  the 

[203] 

1  "  It  is  the  business  of  a  good  judge  to  extend  his  jurisdiction." 

2  Jefferson  is  here  alluding  to  the  case  of  Supreme  Court  Justice 
Samuel  Chase  of  Maryland,  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  a  very  ardent  Federalist,  who  was  impeached  by 
the  Republican  House  in  1804-1805  for  his  unblushing  partisanship  on 
the  bench.    He  was  acquitted.    In  a  letter  to  James  Pleasants,  Decem 
ber  26,  1821,  Jefferson  suggests  that  the  Supreme  Court  judges  be  ap 
pointed  only  for  a  six-year  term,  ''  with  a  re-appointmentability  by  the 
president  with  the  approbation  of  both  houses,"  impeachment  being 
"a  bugbear  which    they  fear    not    at  all."  —  Jefferson,    Writings,  ed. 
P.  L.  Ford,  Vol.  X,  pp.  198-199. 


The  Groivt/i  of  a  National  Consciousness        247 

War  of  1812,  brought  a  spirited  protest  from  the  Spanish 
minister  at  Washington,  Don  Luis  de  Onis,  and  com 
mitted  our  State  Department  to  the  firm  and  exacting 
policy  which  forced  Spain  to  surrender  Florida  to  us  by 
the  treaty  of  1819.  A  proclamation  of  Major  Muhlen- 
berg's  to  the  Indians  and  extracts  from  de  Onis'  protest 
and  John  Quincy  Adams'  ultimatum  to  our  minister 
Erving  at  Madrid  follow. 

CHIEFS  AND  WARRIORS :  Spanish  Bluff>  Nov'  28'  '8l? 

The  President  of  the  United  States  has  been  informed  of  the 
murders  and  thefts  committed  'by  the  hostile  Indians  in  this  part 
of  the  country.  He  has  authorized  General  Jackson  to  arrest 
the  offenders,  and  cause  justice  to  be  done.  The  Indians  have 
been  required  to  deliver  up  the  murderers  of  our  citizens,  and 
the  stolen  property,  but  they  refused  to  deliver  either;  they 
have  had  a  council  at  Mickasukee  in  which  they  have  deter 
mined  on  war ;  they  have  been  at  war  on  helpless  women  and 
children,  let  them  now  calculate  upon  fighting  men.  We  have 
long  known  that  we  had  enemies  east  of  this  river ;  we  likewise 
know  we  have  some  friends ;  but  they  are  so  mixed  together 
we  cannot  always  distinguish  the  one  from  the  other.  The 
President,  wishing  to  do  justice  to  his  red  friends  and  children, 
has  given  orders  for  the  bad  to  be  separated  from  the  good. 
Those  who  have  taken  up  arms  against  him,  and  such  as  have 
listened  to  the  bad  talks  of  the  people  beyond  the  sea  [English 
agents],  must  go  to  Mickasukee  Suwany,  where  we  wish  to 
find  them  together.  But  all  those  who  were  our  friends  in  the 
war  will  sit  at  their  homes  in  peace ;  we  will  pay  them  for  what 
corn  and  meat  they  have  to  sell  us ;  we  will  be  their  friends, 
and  when  they  are  hungry  we  will  give  them  meat.  The  hostile 
party  pretend  to  calculate  on  help  from  the  British !  They  may 
as  well  look  for  soldiers  from  the  moon  to  help  them.  Their 
warriors  were  beaten  and  driven  from  our  country  by  American 
troops.  The  English  are  not  able  to  help  themselves ;  how 
then  should  they  help  the  old  "  Red  Sticks,"  whom  they  have 
ruined  by  pretended  friendship  ? 


248  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

gIR .  Washington,  Dec.  12,  1818 

.  .  .  With  respect  to  the  conduct  of  General  Jackson  in  the  in 
vasion  of  Florida,  and  the  excesses  committed  there  in  violation 
of  the  sovereignty  and  dignity  of  a  friendly  Power,  as  they  are 
public  and  notorious,  and  sufficiently  reprobated  by  public  opin 
ion  ...  I  abstain  from  answering  the  arguments  by  which  you 
have  endeavored  to  justify  that  officer  in  the  note  I  have  the 
honor  to  reply  to.  Whatever  may  be  the  causes  which,  in  the 
view  of  your  Government,  justified  the  war  against  the  Semi- 
noles,  you  cannot  fail  to  admit  how  improbable  it  is  that  those 
miserable  Indians,  feeble  and  wholly  destitute  as  they  are,  could 
have  provoked  it.  In  the  letter  of  the  chief  Boleck  to  the  Gov 
ernor  of  St.  Augustine,  of  the  20th  December,  1816,  a  copy  of 
which  I  had  the  honor  to  transmit  to  you  on  the  2yth  March 
last,  you  must  have  remarked  that  he  speaks  of  assassinations, 
carrying  off  of  men  and  cattle,  usurpations  of  his  territory,  and 
even  forging  of  treaties  for  the  cession  of  lands,  signed  or 
marked  by  the  names  of  persons  unknown  to  the  chiefs  of  the 
Creek  nation,  who,  he  adds,  are  alone  authorized  to  transfer 
the  general  property  ;  of  all  of  which  he  accuses  the  Americans. 
Besides,  the  friendship  and  good  understanding  existing  between 
the  two  nations  .  .  .  decisively  required  that  any  complaints 
which  there  might  be  against  the  Indians  should  be  laid  before 
His  Majesty's  Government  [Spain],  or  before  his  Minister  near 
this  Republic,  previous  to  the  adoption  of  violent  measures  ;  as 
it  was  scarcely  possible  that  those  excesses  could  be  restrained 
by  His  Majesty  so  long  as  he  remained  ignorant  of  them.  .  .  . 

The  unquestionable  fact  is,  that  General  Jackson,  at  the  head 
of  his  army,  fell  upon  Florida  as  a  haughty  invader  and  con 
queror,  regardless  of  the  laws  of  humanity  and  the  feelings  of 
nature,  and  put  to  death  two  foreigners,  who  there  enjoyed  the 
protection  of  Spain,  and  an  asylum  which  has  ever  been  held 
sacred  by  all  civilized  nations ;  thereby  offering  an  unexampled 
insult  to  the  sovereignty  and  independence  of  Spain  ;  trampling 
under  foot  the  most  solemn  compacts,  founded  on  the  laws  of 
nations ;  and  contemptuously  driving  from  that  province  the 
Spanish  commandants  and  troops  in  garrison  there.  .  .  . 

Luis  de  Onis 


The  Growth  of  a  National  Consciousness        249 

A  fortnight  before  de  Onis  presented  the  above  note 
to  our  State  Department,  Secretary  Adams  had  dispatched 
to  our  minister  at  Madrid,  George  W.  Erving,  his  famous 
letter  of  instructions  which  was  tantamount  to  an  ultima 
tum  to  Spain.1  After  "  reminding  the  government  of  his 
Catholic  Majesty  of  the  incidents  in  which  this  Seminole 
war  originated,"  and  "  giving  the  Spanish  cabinet  some 
precise  information  of  the  nature  of  the  business "  in 
which  Spain's  "  allies  "  were  engaged  when  they  were  in 
terrupted  by  General  Jackson,  Mr.  Adams  continues  : 

After  the  repeated  expostulations,  warnings,  and  offers  of 
peace,  through  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1817,  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States,  had  been  answered  only  by  renewed  out 
rages,  and  after  a  detachment  of  forty  men  under  Lieutenant 
Scott,  accompanied  by  seven  women,  had  been  waylaid  and 
murdered  by  the  Indians,  orders  were  given  to  General  Jackson, 
and  an  adequate  force  was  placed  at  his  disposal  to  terminate 
the  war.  It  was  ascertained  that  the  Spanish  force  in  Florida 
was  inadequate  for  the  protection  even  of  the  Spanish  territory 
itself  against  this  mingled  horde  of  lawless  Indians  and  negroes; 
and  although  their  devastations  were  committed  within  the  limits 
•of  the  United  States,  they  immediately  sought  refuge  within  the 
Florida  line,  and  there  only  were  to  be  overtaken.  .  .  .  There  it 
was  that  the  American  commander  met  the  principal  resistance 
from  them ;  there  it  was  that  were  found  the  still  bleeding  scalps 

1  It  is  interesting  to  compare  with  the  high  tone  assumed  towards 
Spain  the  real  feeling  of  the  President  and  of  Secretary  Adams  in  the 
Florida  affair.  Adams  records  in  his  "  Memoirs,"  under  the  date  of  No 
vember  23, 1818:  "The  President  returned  me  the  draft  of  a  letter  to  Onis, 
with  some  alterations  which  he  suggested  as  necessary.  He  thought, 
among  other  things,  that  I  had  gone  too  far  in  the  justification  of 
Jackson's  proceedings  in  Florida.  He  says  he  is  decidedly  of  opinion 
that  these  proceedings  have  been  attended  with  good  results,  and  that 
they  were  in  the  main  justifiable.  But  they  were  certainly  not  contem 
plated  in  any  of  the  instructions  given  to  Jackson.  He  also  thinks  that 
the  ultimate  and  deliberate  opinion  of  the  public  will  not  entirely  justify 
Jackson,  in  which  opinion  I  entirely  concur."  —  Memoirs  of  John 
Quincy  Adams,  Vol.  IV,  p.  176. 


250  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

of  our  citizens,  freshly  butchered  by  them.  .  .  .  But  it  was  not 
anticipated  by  this  Government  that  the  commanding  officers  of 
Spain  in  Florida,  whose  especial  duty.it  was,  in  conformity  to 
the  solemn  engagements  contracted  by  their  nation,  to  restrain 
by  force  those  Indians  from  hostilities  against  the  United  States 
[by  the  treaty  of  1795],  would  be  found  encouraging,  aiding,  and 
abetting  them,  and  furnishing  them  supplies  for  carrying  on 
such  hostilities.  The  officer  in  command  immediately  before 
General  Jackson  was,  therefore,  specially  instructed  to  respect, 
as  far  as  possible,  the  Spanish  authority,  wherever  it  was  main 
tained  ;  and  copies  of  these  orders  were  also  furnished  to 
General  Jackson,  upon  his  taking  the  command. 

In  the  course  of  his  pursuit,  as  he  approached  St.  Mark's,  he 
was  informed  direct  from  the  Governor  of  Pensacola  that  a  party 
of  the  hostile  Indians  had  threatened  to  seize  that  fort,  and  that 
he  apprehended  the  Spanish  garrison  there  was  not  in  strength 
sufficient  to  defend  it  against  them.  This  information  . . .  proved 
to  have  been  exactly  true.  By  all  the  laws  of  neutrality  and  of 
war,  as  well  as  of  prudence  and  of  humanity,  he  was  warranted 
in  anticipating  his  enemy  by  the  amicable,  and,  that  being  re 
fused,  by  the  forcible  occupation  of  the  fort.  There  will  need 
no  citations  from  printed  treatises  on  international  law  to  prove 
the  correctness  of  this  principle.  It  is  engraved  in  adamant  on 
the  common  sense  of  mankind.  .  .  . 

On  the  approach  of  General  Jackson  to  Pensacola,  the  gov 
ernor  sent  him  a  letter  denouncing  his  entry  upon  the  territory 
of  Florida  as  a  violent  outrage  on  the  rights  of  Spain,  command 
ing  him  to  depart  and  withdraw  from  the  same,  and  threatening, 
in  case  of  his  non-compliance,  to  employ  force  to  expel  him. 

It  became,  therefore,  in  the  opinion  of  General  Jackson,  indis 
pensably  necessary  to  take  from  the  Governor  of  Pensacola  the 
means  of  carrying  his  threat  into  execution.  .  .  .  He  took  pos 
session  therefore  of  Pensacola  and  of  the  fort  of  Barrancas,  as 
he  had  done  of  St.  Mark's,  not  in  a  spirit  of  hostility  to  Spain, 
but  as  a  necessary  measure  of  self-defence ;  giving  notice  that 
they  should  be  restored  whenever  Spain  should  place  command 
ers  and  a  force  there  able  and  willing  to  fulfil  the  engagements 
of  Spain  towards  the  United  States,  or  of  .restraining  by  force 


The  Growth  of  a  National  Consciousness         251 

the  Florida  Indians  from  hostilities  against  their  citizens.  .  .  . 
The  obligation  of  Spain  to  restrain,  by  force,  the  Indians  of 
Florida  from  hostilities  against  the  United  States  and  their  citi 
zens,  is  explicit,  is  positive,  is  unqualified.  The  fact  that  for  a 
series  of  years  they  have  received  shelter,  assistance,  supplies, 
and  protection  in  the  practice  of  such  hostilities,  from  the  Spanish 
commanders  in  Florida  is  clear  and  unequivocal.  If,  as  the  com 
manders  both  at  Pensacola  and  St.  Mark's  have  alleged,  this 
has  been  the  result  of  their  weakness  rather  than  of  their  will; 
if  they  have  assisted  the  Indians  against  the  United  States  to 
avert  their  hostilities  from  the  province  which  they  had  not  suffi 
cient  force  to  defend  against  them,  it  may  serve  in  some  meas 
ure  to  exculpate,  individually,  those  officers ;  but  it  must  carry 
demonstration  irresistible  to  the  Spanish  Government,  that  the 
right  of  the  United  States  can  as  little  compound  with  impo 
tence  as  with  perfidy,  and  that  Spain  must  immediately  make 
her  election,  either  to  place  a  force  in  Florida  adequate  at  once 
to  the  protection  of  her  territory,  and  to  the  fulfilment  of  her 
engagements,  or  cede  to  the  United  States  a  province,  of  which 
she  retains  nothing  but  the  nominal  possession,  but  which  is,  in 
fact,  a  derelict  open  to  the  occupancy  of  every  enemy,  civilized 
or  savage,  of  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

You  are  authorized  to  communicate  the  whole  of  this  letter, 
and  the  accompanying  documents,  to  the  Spanish  Government. 
I  have  the  honor,  etc.,  etc.  John  Quincy  Adams 

The  famous  paragraphs  in  President  Monroe's  seventh  63.  The 
annual  message  to  Congress,  December  2,   1823,  which  Do°cntrr°ine, 
announced  the  policy  of  the  United  States  in  regard  to  the  December 
interference  of  the  European  powers  in  the  affairs  of  this 
continent,  either  for  the  acquisition  of  new  colonies  or  for 
the  disturbance  of  existing  governments,  have  gained  an 
added  interest  in  the  last  few  decadesjby  reason  both  of 
our  entrance  into  the  ranks  of  the  great  naval  powers, which 
have  conquered  and  colonized  distant  lands,  and  of  our  in- 
creasing  concern  in  the  fortunes  of  the  republics  of  Central 


252  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

and  South  America.  Although  the  Monroe  Doctrine  is 
the  only  official  pronouncement  in  our  history  that  bears 
the  name  of  a  president,  it  was  not  Monroe's,  nor  any 
other  man's,  doctrine.  It  was  simply  a  dear  g^ernent, 
at  a  critical  moment,  of  our  policy,  asserted  repeatedly 
from  the  days  of  Washington  dowrh  to  keep  America  as 
remote  as  possible  from  the  complicated  quarrels  of  the 
courts  of  Europe. 

A  precise  knowledge  of  our  relations  with  foreign  powers  as 
respects  our  negotiations  and  transactions  with  each  is  thought 
to  be  particularly  necessary.  Equally  necessary  is  it  that  we 
should  form  a  just  estimate  of  our  resources,  revenue,  and  prog 
ress  in  every  kind  of  improvement  connected  with  the  national 
prosperity  and  public  defense.  It  is  by  rendering  justice  to  other 
nations  that  we  may  expect  it  from  them.  It  is  by  our  ability  to 
resent  injuries  and  redress  wrongs  that  we  may  avoid  them.  .  .  . 

At  the  proposal  of  the  Russian  Imperial  Government,  made 
through  the  minister  of  the  Emperor  residing  here,  a  full  power 
and  instructions  have  been  transmitted  to  the  minister  of  the 
United  States  at  St.  Petersburg,  to  arrange  by  amicable  negotia 
tion  the  respective  rights  and  interests  of  the  two  nations  on 
the  north-west  coast  of  this  continent.  ...  In  the  discussions 
to  which  this  interest  has  given  rise  and  in  the  arrangements  by 
which  they  may  terminate  the  occasion  has  been  judged  proper 
for  asserting,  as  a  principle  in  which  the  rights  and  interests  of 
the  United  States  are  involved,  that  the  American  continents, 
by  the  free  and  independent  condition  which  they  have  assumed 
and  maintain,  are  henceforth  not  to  be  considered  as  subjects 
for  future  colonization  by  any  European  powers.  .  .  . 

It  was  stated  at  the  commencement  of  the  last  session  that 
a  great  effort  was  then  making  in  Spain  and  Portugal  to  im 
prove  the  condition  of  the  people  of  those  countries,1  and  that 

1  In  the  midsummer  of  1822  the  revolutionists  of  Spain  had  gotten  the 
upper  hand  and  compelled  the  absolute  Bourbon  king,  Ferdinand  VII, 
to  acknowledge  a  constitutional  regime.  Then  French  forces  under  the 
Duke  of  Angouleme  invaded  Spain  (April,  1823)  and  restored  the  ab 
solute  king  in  a  violent  civil  war.  Riego,  the  leader  of  the  revolutionists, 


The  Growth  of  a  National  Consciousness         253 

it  appeared  to  be  conducted  with  extraordinary  moderation.  It 
need  scarcely  be  remarked  that  the  result  has  been  so  far  very 
different  from  what  was  then  anticipated.  Of  events  in  that 
quarter  of  the  globe,  with  which  we  have  so  much  intercourse 
and  from  which  we  derive  our  origin,  we  have  always  been  anx 
ious  and  interested  spectators.  The  citizens  of  the  United  States 
cherish  sentiments  the  most  friendly  in  favor  of  the  liberty  and 
happiness  of  their  fellow-men  on  that  side  of  the  Atlantic.  In 
the  wars  of  the  European  powers  in  matters  relating  to  them 
selves  we  have  never  taken  any  part,  nor  does  it  comport  with 
our  policy  so  to  do.  It  is  only  when  our  rights  are  invaded  or 
seriously  menaced  that  we  resent  injuries  or  make  preparations 
for  our  defense.  With  the  movements  in  this  hemisphere  we  are 
of  necessity  more  immediately  connected,  and  by  causes  which 
must  be  obvious  to  all  enlightened  and  impartial  observers.  The 
political  system  of  the  allied  powers2  is  essentially  different  in 
this  respect  from  that  of  America.  This  difference  proceeds  from 
that  which  exists  in  their  respective  governments :  and  to  the 
defense  of  our  own,  which  has  been  achieved  by  the  loss  of  so 
much  blood  and  treasure,  and  matured  by  the  wisdom  of  their 
most  enlightened  citizens,  and  under  which  we  have  enjoyed  un 
exampled  felicity,  this  whole  nation  is  devoted.  We  owe  it  there 
fore  to  candor  and  to  the  amicable  relations  existing  between 
the  United  States  and  those  powers,  to  declare  that  we  should 
consider  any  attempt  on  their  part  to  extend  their  system  to  any 
portion  of  this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and  safety. 
With  the  existing  colonies  or  dependencies  of  any  power  we 
have  not  interfered  and  shall  not  interfere.  But  with  the  Gov 
ernments  who  have  declared  their  independence  and  maintained 

was  hung  from  a  gallows  forty  feet  high,  just  a  few  days  before  Monroe 
sent  his  message  (November  7,  1823). 

2  The  Holy  Alliance  was  concluded  between  the  sovereigns  of  Aus 
tria,  Prussia,  and  Russia  in  1815  for  the  alleged  purpose  of  ruling  the 
peoples  whom  they  were  "  delegated  by  Providence  to  govern  "  accord 
ing  to  the  "principles  which  the  Divine  Savior  has  taught  to  mankind." 
Three  years  later,  however,  these  sovereigns  embarked  on  the  policy  of 
armed  intervention  in  the  other  states  of  Europe  for  the  sake  of  quell 
ing  rebellions  and  supporting  "legitimate"  thrones.  The  fear  that  they 
would  extend  their  operations  to  restore  the  authority  of  Spain  in  the 
American  republics  called  forth  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 


254  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

it,  and  whose  independence  we  have,  on  great  consideration  and 
on  just  principles,  acknowledged,  we  could  not  view  any  inter 
position  for  the  purpose  of  oppressing  them,  or  controlling  in 
any  other  manner  their  destiny,  by  any  European  power  in  any 
other  light  than  as  the  manifestation  of  an  unfriendly  disposition 
r  towards  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

Our  policy  in  regard  to  Europe,  which  was  adopted  at  an 
early  stage  of  the  wars  which  have  so  long  agitated  that  quarter 
of  the  globe,  nevertheless  remains  the  same,  which  is,  not  to 
interfere  in  the  internal  concerns  of  any  of  its  powers ;  to  con 
sider  the  government  de  facto  as  the  legitimate  government  for 
us ;  to  cultivate  friendly  relations  with  it,  and  to  preserve  those 
relations  by  a  frank,  firm,  and  manly  policy,  meeting  in  all  in 
stances  the  just  claims  of  every  power,  submitting  to  injuries 
from  none.  . 


CHAPTER  IX 
SECTIONAL  INTERESTS 

THE  FAVORITE  SONS 

The  following  extracts  from  the  diary  of  John  Quincy  54.  jockey- 
Adams  show  how  incessant  were  the  combinations,  in-  mg  f°r  t^e1 

presidential 

trigues,  and  deals  between  the  political  factions  to  win  race,  1824 
the  presidential  election  of  1824.  [215] 

Jan.  30th  [1824].  Colonel  R.  M.  Johnson,  Mr.  R.  King, 
and  Mr.  Fuller  had  long  conversations  with  me  concerning  the 
movements  of  the  parties  here  for  the  Presidential  succession. 
Johnson  says  that  Calhoun  proposed  to  him  an  arrangement  by 
which  I  should  be  supported  as  President,  General  Jackson  as 
Vice-President,  Clay  to  be  Secretary  of  State,  and  he  himself 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ;  not  as  a  bargain  or  coalition,  but 
by  the  common  understanding  of  our  mutual  friends.  I  made 
no  remark  upon  this,  but  it  discloses  the  forlorn  hope  of  Calhoun, 
which  is  to  secure  a  step  of  advancement  to  himself,  and  the 
total  exclusion  of  Crawford,  even  from  his  present  office  at  the 
head  of  the  Treasury.  .  .  . 

Feb'y  4th.  I  attended  in  the  evening  the  drawing-room  at 
the  President's.  On  returning  home  I  found  J.  W.  Taylor  at 
my  house,  and  had  a  long  conversation  with  him.  He  told  me 
that  Jesse  B.  Thomas,  a  Senator  from  Illinois,  had  strongly 
urged  upon  him  the  expediency  of  my  acquiescing  in  the  nomi 
nation  as  Vice-President,  with  Mr.  Crawford  for  the  Presidency. 
He  said  that  Mr.  Crawford  would  certainly  be  elected  .  .  .  that 
from  the  state  of  Mr.  Crawford's  health  it  was  highly  probable 
the  duties  of  the  Presidency  would  devolve  upon  the  Vice- 
President  .  .  .  that  a  compliance  with  the  views  of  Mr.  Craw 
ford's  friends  on  this  occasion  would  be  rendering  them  a 

255 


256  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

service  which  would  recommend  me  to  their  future  favor,  and 
would  doubtless  secure  my  election  hereafter  to  the  Presidency 

Feb'y  5th.  At  the  office,  Mr.  Bradley  of  Vermont  called, 
and  told  me  that  he  had  information  from  an  undoubted  source 
that  there  was  a  coalition  between  Clay  and  Calhoun.  How  far 
the  friends  of  Jackson  had  entered  into  it  he  did  not  know,  but 
the  project  for  the  Harrisburg  Convention  on  the  4th  of  March 
was  to  make  up  a  ticket  which  would  ultimately  decide  for 
Jackson,  Clay,  or  Calhoun,  according  to  circumstances,  but 
excluding  Crawford  and  me.  .  .  . 

March  i9th.  Johnson  says  Mr.  Crawford's  friends,  particularly 
Governor  Barbour,  are  very  sanguine  of  his  election,  and  entirely 
sure  of  the  vote  of  New  York.  They  consider  all  prospect  of  my 
being  supported  as  having  vanished,  and  that  all  New  England 
will  abandon  me  and  vote  for  Crawford.  I  believe  Mr.  Crawford's 
prospects  and  mine  equally  unpromising.  .  .  .  Whether  all  New 
England  will  support  me  is  yet  problematical,  and  the  rest  is  yet 
more  uncertain.  The  issue  must  be  where  it  ought  to  be,  and 
my  duty  is  cheerful  acquiescence  in  the  event.  .  .  . 

March  23d.  The  mining  and  countermining  upon  this  Presi 
dential  election  is  an  admirable  study  of  human  nature.  The 
mist  into  which  Calhoun's  bubble  broke  settles  upon  Jackson, 
who  is  now  taking  the  fragments  of  Clinton's  party.  Those  of 
Clay  will  also  fall  chiefly  to  him  and  his  sect,  and  Crawford's 
are  now  working  for  mine.  They  both  consider  my  prospects 
as  desperate,  and  are  scrambling  for  my  spoils.  I  can  do  no 
more  than  satisfy  them  that  I  have  no  purchasable  interest. 
My  friends  will  go  over  to  whomsoever  they  may  prefer.  .  .  . 

April  1 7th.  At  the  office,  Albert  H.  Tracy  came,  and  had  a 
conversation  with  me  of  nearly  two  hours,  chiefly  on  the  pros 
pects  of  the  Presidential  election.  He  said  there  was  a  great 
and  powerful  party  getting  up  for  General  Jackson  as  President 
in  New  York ;  that  it  could  not  possibly  succeed,  but  that  its 
probable  effect  would  be  to  secure  the  electoral  vote  of  the 
State  to  Mr.  Crawford.  .  .  . 

May  i5th.  W.  Plumer,  a  member  from  New  Hampshire, 
was  here  this  morning.  ...  I  told  him  that  there  was  no 
person  who  could  be  substituted  for  Jackson  to  fill  the 


Sectional  In  terests  257 

Vice-Presidency.  ...  He  would  be  satisfied  [!],  and  so  would 
substantially  his  friends,  to  be  Vice-President.  ...  I  said  the 
Vice-Presidency  was  a  station  in  which  the  General  could  hang 
no  one,  and  in  which  he  would  need  to  quarrel  with  no  one. 
His  name  and  character  would  serve  to  restore  the  forgotten 
dignity  of  the  place,  and  it  would  afford  an  easy  and  dignified 
retirement  to  his  old  age.  .  .  . 

When  the  choice  of  presidential  electors  in  November 
failed  to  give  a  majority  to  any  of  the  four  principal  candi 
dates,  the  election  of  a  president  was  thrown  into  the  House 
of  Representatives,  and  the  electioneering  was  redoubled 
for  capturing  the  votes  of  the  states  in  the  House. 

Jan'y  9th  [1825].  Mr.  Clay  came  at  six  and  spent  the  eve 
ning  with  me He  said  that  the  time  was  drawing  near  when 

the  choice  must  be  made  in  the  House  of  Representatives  of  a 
President  from  the  three  candidates  presented  by  the  electoral 
colleges  ;  that  he  had  been  much  urged  and  solicited  with  regard 
to  the  part  in  that  transaction  that  he  should  take.  ...  He 
wished  me,  as  far  as  I  might  think  proper,  to  satisfy  him  with 
regard  to  some  principles  of  great  public  importance,  but  with 
out  any  personal  considerations  for  himself.  In  the  question  to 
come  before  the  House  between  General  Jackson,  Mr.  Grawford, 
and  myself,  he  had  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  his  preference 
would  be  for  me.  .  .  . 

Jan'y  29th.  .  .  .  [Mr.  Clay's]  own  situation  is  critical  and 
difficult.  He  is  attacked  with  fury  in  the  newspapers  for  having 
come  out  for  me,  and  threats  of  violence  have  been  largely 
thrown  out  by  the  partisans  of  General  Jackson,  particularly 
those  of  the  Calhoun  interest.  Richard  M.  Johnson  told  me  at 
the  drawing-room  last  Wednesday  that  it  had  been  seriously 
proposed'  to  him,  in  the  event  of  the  failure  of  Jackson's  elec 
tion,  to  erect  his  standard;  and  I  received  this  morning  an 
anonymous  letter  from  Philadelphia  threatening  organized  op 
position  and  civil  war  if  Jackson  is  not  chosen.  This  blustering 
has  an  air  of  desperation.  But  we  must  meet  it.  ... 


258  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

Feb'y  9th.  May  the  blessing  of  God  rest  upon  the  event  of 
this  day  1  —  the  second  Wednesday  in  February,  when  the  elec 
tion  of  a  President  of  the  United  States  for  the  term  of  four 
years,  from  the  4th  of  March  next,  was  consummated.  .  .  .  The 
House  of  Representatives  immediately  proceeded  to  the  vote 
by  ballot  from  the  three  highest  candidates,  when  John  Quincy 
Adams  received  the  votes  of  thirteen,  Andrew  Jackson  of  seven, 
and  William  H.  Crawford  of  four  states.  The  election  was  thus 
completed,  very  unexpectedly,  by  a  single  ballot.  .  .  .  After 
dinner,  the  Russian  Minister,  Baron  Tuyl,  called  to  congratulate 
me  on  the  issue  of  the  election.  I  attended,  with  Mrs.  Adams, 
the  drawing-room  at  the  President's.  It  was  crowded  to  over 
flowing.  General  Jackson  was  there,  and  we  shook  hands.  He 
was  altogether  placid  and  courteous.  I  received  numerous 
friendly  salutations.  ...  I  enclosed  Mr.  R.  King's  note,  with 
a  letter  of  three  lines  to  my  father,  asking  for  his  blessing  and 
prayers  on  the  event  of  this  day,  the  most  important  day  of  my 
life,  and  which  I  would  close  as  it  began,  with  supplications  to 
the  Father  of  all  mercies  that  its  consequences  may  redound  to 
His  glory  and  to  the  welfare  of  my  country.  After  I  returned 
from  the  drawing-room,  a  band  of  musicians  came  and  serenaded 
me  at  my  house.  It  was  past  midnight  when  I  retired.  .  .  . 

The  elder  Adams  replied  to  his  son's  communication 
in  the  following  touching  letter  : 

Quincy,  Mass.,  i8th  February,  1825 

I  have  received  your  letter  of  the  9th.  Never  did  I  feel 
so  much  solemnity  as  on  this  occasion.  The  multitude  of  my 
thoughts  and  the  intensity  of  my  feelings  are  too  much  for  a 
mind  like  mine,  in  its  ninetieth  year.  May  the  blessing  of  God 
Almighty  continue  to  protect  you  to  the  end  of  your  life,  as  it 
has  heretofore  protected  you  in  so  remarkable  a  manner  from 
your  cradle !  I  offer  the  same  prayer  for  your  lady  and  your 
family  —  and  am 

Your  affectionate  father, 

John  Adams 


Sectional  Interests  259 

AN  ERA  OF  HARD  FEELING 

The  most  persistent  advocate  of  westward  expansion  65.  Benton's 
in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  Senator  Jjcupfation  of 
Thomas  H.  Benton  of  Missouri.    In  aggressive,  almost  Oregon,  1825 
truculent,  language  he  maintained  that  neither  Spain  had       I2181 
any  fair  claim  to  Texas  nor  Great  Britain  to  Oregon.    In 
1825,  when  the  period  of  joint  occupation  provided  by  the 
treaty  of  1818  was  drawing  to  a  close,  Benton  brought  a 
bill  into  the  Senate,  empowering  the  President  to  take 
possession  of  the  Columbia  valley  and  hold  it  as  exclusive 
American  territory.    In  defense  of  the  bill  (which  received 
only  fourteen  votes)  Benton  said  : 

It  is  now,  Mr.  President,  precisely  two  and  twenty  years  sine® 
a  contest  for  the  Columbia  has  been  going  on  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain.  The  contest  originated  with 
the  discovery  of  the  river  itself.  The  moment  that  we  discovered 
it  she  claimed  it ;  and  without  a  color  of  title  in  her  hand,  she 
has  labored  ever  since  to  overreach  us  in  the  arts  of  negotiation, 
or  to  bully  us  out  of  our  discovery  by  menaces  of  war. 

In  the  year  1790  [1792]  a  citizen  of  the  United  States, 
Capt  Gray  of  Boston,  discovered  the  Columbia  at  its  entrance 
into  the  sea;  and  in  1803  Lewis  and  Clark  were  sent  by  the 
government  of  the  United  States  to  complete  the  discovery  of 
the  whole  river  from  its  source  downward,  and  to  take  formal 
possession  in  the  name  of  their  government.1  In  1793  Sir 
Alexander  McKenzie  had  been  sent  from  Canada  by  the  British 
Government  to  effect  the  same  object ;  but  he  missed  the  sources 
of  the  river, . . .  and  struck  the  Pacific  about  five  hundred  miles 
to  the  north  of  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia.  .  .  . 

The  truth  is,  Mr.  President,  Great  Britain  has  no  color  of 
title  to  the  country  in  question.  She  sets  up  none.  There  is 
not  a  paper  on  the  face  of  the  earth  in  which  a  British  minister 

1  In  Jefferson's  instructions  to  Lewis,  June  20,  1803,  there  is  nothing 
about  taking  formal  possession  in  the  name  of  our  government.  See 
No.  55,  p.  218. 


260  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

has  stated  a  claim.  I  speak  of  the  King's  ministers  and  not  of 
the  agents  employed  by  them.  The  claims  we  have  been  ex 
amining  are  thrown  out  in  the  conversations  and  notes  of  diplo 
matic  agents.  No  English  minister  has  ever  put  his  name  to 
them,  and  no  one  will  ever  risk  his  character  as  a  statesman  by 
venturing  to  do  so.  The  claim  of  Great  Britain  is  nothing  but 
a  naked  pretension  founded  on  the  double  prospect  of  bene 
fiting  herself  and  injuring  the  United  States.  The  fur  trader, 
Sir  Alexander  McKenzie,  is  at  the  bottom  of  this  policy.  Failing 
in  his  attempt  to  explore  the  Columbia  River  in  1793,  he,  never 
theless,  urged  upon  the  British  Government  the  advantages  of 
taking  it  to  herself,  and  of  expelling  the  Americans  from  the 
whole  region  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  The  advice  ac 
corded  too  well  with  the  passions  and  policy  of  that  government 
to  be  disregarded.  It  is  a  government  which  has  lost  no  oppor 
tunity,  since  the  peace  of  '83,  of  aggrandizing  itself  at  the  ex 
pense  of  the  United  States.  It  is  a  government  which  listens 
to  the  suggestions  of  its  experienced  subjects,  and  thus  an  in 
dividual,  in  the  humble  station  of  a  fur  trader,  has  pointed  out 
the  policy  which  has  been  pursued  by  every  Minister  of  Great 
Britain  from  Pitt  to  Canning,  and  for  the  maintenance  of  which 
a  war  is  now  menaced.  .  .  . 

I  do  not  argue  the  question  of  title  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States,  but  only  state  it  as  founded  upon —  i.  Discovery  of  the 
Columbia  River  by.Capt.  Gray  in  1790  [1792];  2.  Purchase 
of  Louisiana  in  1803  ;  3.  Discovery  of  the  Columbia  from  its 
head  to  its  mouth  by  Lewis  and  Clark  in  1803  [1805] ;  4.  Settle 
ment  of  Astoria  in  1811  ;  5.  Treaty  with  Spain  in  1819  ;  6.  Con 
tiguity  and  continuity  of  settlement  and  possession.  Nor  do  I 
argue  the  question  of  the  advantages  of  retaining  the  Columbia, 
and  refusing  to  divide  or  alienate  our  territory  upon  it.  I  merely 
state  them  .  .  . :  i.  To  keep  out  a  foreign  power;  2.  To  gain 
a  seaport  with  a  military  and  naval  station  on  the  coast  of  the 
Pacific ;  3.  To  save  the  fur  trade  in  that  region,  and  prevent  our 
Indians  from  being  tampered  with  by  British  traders ;  4.  To 
open  a  communication  for  commercial  purposes  between  the 
Mississippi  and  the  Pacific;  5.  To  send  the  light  of  science  and 
of  religion  into  eastern  Asia. 


Sectional  Interests  261 

THE  "  TARIFF  OF  ABOMINATIONS  " 

The  passage  of   the  Tariff  of  Abominations  of  May,  66.  The  pro- 
1828,  brought  from  the  legislature  of  South  Carolina  the  Carolina01 

following  resolutions  :  against  high 

tariff,  1828 

Resolved  :  That  it  is  expedient  to  protest  against  the  uncon-  [224] 
stitutionality  and  oppressive  operation  of  the  system  of  protect 
ing  duties,  and  to  have  such  protest  entered  on  the  Journals  of 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States  —  Also,  to  make  a  public  ex 
position  of  our  wrongs  and  of  the  remedies  within  our  power, 
to  be  communicated  to  our  sister  States,  with  a  request  that  they 
will  cooperate  with  this  State  in  procuring  a  repeal  of  the  Tariff 
for  protection,  and  an  abandonment  of  the  principle  ;  and  if  the 
repeal  be  not  procured,  that  they  will  cooperate  in  such  measures 
as  may  be  necessary  for  arresting  the  evil. 

Resolved :  That  a  committee  of  seven  be  raised  to  carry  the 
foregoing  resolution  into  effect. 

The  special  committee  reported  the  famous  "  Exposi 
tion  and  Protest"  from  the  pen  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  vice 
president  of  the  United  States.  The  following  extracts  are 
taken  from  that  part  of  the  Exposition  dealing  with  the 
economic  evil  of  the  tariff  for  the  South  : 1 

The  committee  have  bestowed  on  the  subjects  referred  to 
them  the  deliberate  attention  which  their  importance  demands ; 
and  the  result,  on  full  investigation,  is  a  unanimous  opinion  that 
the  act  of  Congress  of  the  last  session,  with  the  whole  system 
of  legislation  imposing  duties  on  imports,  —  not  for  revenue,  but 

1  This  economic  danger  had  already  been  realized  by  leaders  in  the 
South.  President  Thomas  Cooper  of  the  College  of  South  Carolina  had 
written  five  years  earlier  (even  before  the  tariff  of  1824)  to  the  Con 
gressmen  from  his  state  :  "  Let  the  Southern  States  look  to  it !  They 
are  not  threatened  with  a  system  of  unjust  and  burthensome  taxation 
merely :  this  is  a  trifle  in  the  plan.  They  are  threatened  with  the  anni 
hilation  of  their  staple  commodity  —  not  with  taxation  but  destruction  !  " 
-Thomas  Cooper,  Two  Tracts  on  the  Proposed  Alteration  of  the 
Tariff,  p.  27. 


262  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

the  protection  of  one  branch  of  industry  at  the  expense  of  others 
—  is  unconstitutional,  unequal,  and  oppressive,  and  calculated 
to  corrupt  the  public   virtue  and  destroy  the  liberty  of  the 
country.  .  .  . 

The  committee  do  not  propose  to  enter  into  an  elaborate  or 
refined  argument  on  the  question  of  the  constitutionality  of  the 
Tariff  system.  The  General  Government  is  one  of  specific 
powers,  and  it  can  rightfully  exercise  only  the  powers  expressly 
granted.  ...  It  results,  necessarily,  that  those  who  claim  to  ex 
ercise  power,  under  the  Constitution,  are  bound  to  show  that 
it  is  expressly  granted,  or  that  it  is  necessary  and  proper  as  a 
means  to  some  of  the  granted  powers.  The  advocates  of  the 
Tariff  have  offered  no  such  proof.  It  is  true  that  the  third  sec 
tion  of  the  first  article  of  the  Constitution  authorizes  Congress 
to  lay  and  collect  an  impost  duty,  but  it  is  granted  as  a  tax 
power  for  the  sole  purpose  of  revenue,  —  a  power  in  its  nature 
essentially  different  from  that  of  imposing  protective  or  prohibi 
tory  duties.  . . .  The  Constitution  may  be  as  grossly  violated  by 
acting  against  its  meaning  as  against  its  letter.  .  .  .  The  facts 
are  few  and  simple.  The  Constitution  grants  to  Congress  the 
power  of  imposing  a  duty  on  imports  for  revenue,  which  power 
is  abused  by  being  converted  into  an  instrument  of  rearing  up 
the  industry  of  one  section  of  the  country  on  the  ruins  of  an 
other.  ...  It  is,  in  a  word,  a  violation  by  perversion,  —  the 
most  dangerous  of  all  because  the  most  insidious  and  difficult 
to  resist.  .  .  . 

On  entering  this  branch  of  the  subject,  the  committee  feel 
the  painful  character  of  the  duty  which  they  must  perform. 
They  would  desire  never  to  speak  of  our  country,  as  far  as  the 
action  of  the  General  Government  is  concerned,  but  as  one 
great  whole,  having  a  common  interest,  which  all  the  parts 
ought  zealously  to  promote.  Previously  to  the  adoption  of  the 
Tariff  system,  such  was  the  unanimous  feeling  of  this  State; 
but  in  speaking  of  its  operation,  it  will  be  impossible  to  avoid 
the  discussion  of  sectional  interest,  and  the  use  of  sectional  lan 
guage.  On  its  authors,  and  not  on  us,  who  are  compelled  to 
adopt  this  course  in  self-defence,  by  injustice  and  oppression, 
be  the  censure. 


Sectional  Interests  263 

So  partial  are  the  effects  of  the  system,  that  its  burdens  are 
exclusively  on  one  side  and  its  benefits  on  the  other.  It  imposes 
on  the  agricultural  interest  of  the  South,  including  the  South 
west,  and  that  portion  of  the  country  particularly  engaged  in 
commerce  and  navigation,  the  burden  not  only  of  sustaining  the 
system  itself,  but  that  also  of  the  Government.  .  .  .  That  the 
manufacturing  States,  even  in  their  own  opinion,  bear  no  share 
of  the  burden  of  the  Tariff  in  reality,  we  may  infer  with  the 
greatest  certainty  from  their  conduct.  The  fact  that  they  urgently 
demand  an  increase,  and  consider  every  addition  as  a  blessing 
and  a  failure  to  obtain  one  as  a  curse,  is  the  strongest  confession 
that,  whatever  burden  it  imposes,  in  reality  falls  not  on  them, 
but  on  others.  Men  ask  not  for  burdens,  but  benefits.  .  .  . 

Let  us  now  trace  the  operation  of  the  system  in  some  of  its 
prominent  details,  in  order  to  understand,  with  greater  precision, 
the  extent  of  the  burden  it  imposes  on  us,  and  the  benefits  which 
it  confers,  at  our  expense,  on  the  manufacturing  states.  .  .  .  The 
exports  of  domestic  produce,  in  round  numbers,  may  be  esti 
mated  as  averaging  $53,000,000  annually;  of  which  the  States 
growing  cotton,  rice,  and  tobacco  produce  about  $37,000,000. 
In  the  last  four  years,  the  average  amount  of  the  export  of 
cotton,  rice,  and  tobacco,  exceeded  $35,500,000 ;  to  which,  if  we 
add  flour,  corn,  lumber,  and  other  articles  exported  from  the 
States  producing  the  former,  their  exports  cannot  be  estimated 
at  a  less  sum  than  that  stated.  Taking.it  at  that  sum,  the  ex 
ports  of  the  Southern  or  staple  States,  and  other  States,  will 
stand  as  $37,000,000  to  $16,000,000  —  or  considerably  more 
than  the  proportion  of  two  to  one ;  while  their  population,  esti 
mated  in  federal  numbers,  is  the  reverse  ;  the  former  sending 
to  the  House  of  Representatives  but  76  members,  and  the  latter 
137.  It  follows  that  about  one  third  of  the  Union  exports  more 
than  two  thirds  of  the  domestic  products.  .  .  .  The  Government 
is  supported  almost  exclusively  by  a  tax  on  this  exchange,  in 
the  shape  of  an  impost  duty,  and  which  amounts  annually  to 
about  $23,000,000.  Previous  to  the  passage  of  the  act  of  the 
last  session,  this  tax  averaged  about  37^  per  cent,  on  the  value 
of  exports.  .  . .  The  present  duty  [averages]  at  least  45  per  cent, 
which  on  $37,000,000,  the  amount  of  our  share  of  the  exports, 


264  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

will  give  the  sum  of  $16,650,000  as  our  share  of  the  contribution 
to  the  general  Treasury.  .  .  . 

What  becomes  of  so  large  an  amount  of  the  products  of  our 
labor  placed,  by  the  operation  of  the  system,  at  the  disposal  of 
Congress  ?  One  point  is  certain,  —  a  very  small  share  returns 
to  us,  out  of  whose  labor  it  is  extracted.  It  would  require  much 
investigation  to  state,  with  precision,  the  proportion  of  the  public 
revenue  disbursed  annually  in  the  Southern,  and  other  States 
respectively ;  but  the  committee  feel  a  thorough  conviction  .  .  . 
that  a  sum  of  much  less  than  two  million  dollars  falls  to  our 
share  of  the  disbursements ;  and  that  it  would  be  a  moderate 
estimate  to  place  our  contribution,  above  what  we  receive  back, 
through  all  of  the  appropriations,  at  $15,000,000;  constituting 
to  that  great  amount,  an  annual,  continued,  and  uncompensated 
draft  on  the  industry  of  the  Southern  States,  through  the 
Custom-House  alone. 


CHAPTER  X 

"THE  REIGN  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON" 

NULLIFICATION 

Two  of  the  scores  of  foreigners  who  have  visited  our  67.  Andrew 
country  and  written  of  our  society  and  institutions  stand  sSutionaT0 
out  conspicuous  for  the  accuracy,  sympathy,  and  justice  autocrat 
of  their  remarks.   One  of  these  men  is  the  recent  English       12271 
ambassador  to  the  United  States,  James  Bryce  (now  Lord 
Dechmont),  author  of  "  The  American  Commonwealth  "  ; 
the  other,  a  young  Frenchman,  Alexis  de  Tocqueville,  who 
visited  us  in  1831,  .with  a  commission  from  the  French 
government  to  study  our  prison  system.    De  Tocqueville 
duly  visited  and  reported  upon  the  prisons  (Sing  Sing, 
Auburn,  and  others),  but  this  part  of  his  work  was  soon 
forgotten  in  the  interest  and  enthusiasm  aroused  by  his 
general  treatise  on  "  Democracy  in  America."  At  the  close 
of  a  long  section  entitled  "  What  are  the  chances  of  dura 
tion  of  the  American  Union,  and  what  dangers  threaten 
it  ?  "  De  Tocqueville  writes  of  the  President : 

Some  persons  in  Europe  have  formed  an  opinion  of  the 
influence  of  General  Jackson  upon  the  affairs  of  his  country 
which  appears  highly  extravagant  to  those  who  have  seen  the 
subject  nearer  at  hand.  We  have  been  told  that  General  Jack 
son  has  won  battles ;  that  he  is  an  energetic  man,  prone  by 
nature  and  habit  to  the  use  of  force,  covetous  of  power  and  a 
despot  by  inclination.  All  this  may  be  true,  but  the  inferences 
which  have  been  drawn  from  these  truths  are  very  erroneous. 

265 


266  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

It  has  been  imagined  that  General  Jackson  is  bent  on  establish 
ing  a  dictatorship  in  America,  introducing  a  military  spirit,  and 
giving  a  degree  of  influence  to  the  central  authority  which  cannot 
but  be  dangerous  to  provincial  [state]  liberties.  But  in  America 
the  time  for  similar  undertakings,  and  the  age  for  men  of  this 
kind,  is  not  yet  come :  if  General  Jackson  had  thought  of  exer 
cising  his  authority  in  this  manner,  he  would  infallibly  have 
forfeited  his  political  station,  and  compromised  his  life,  —  he 
has  not  been  so  imprudent  as  to  attempt  anything  of  the  kind. 

Far  from  wishing  to  extend  the  Federal  power,  the  President 
belongs  to  the  party  which  is  desirous  of  limiting  that  power  to 
the  clear  and  precise  letter  of  the  Constitution,  and  which  never 
puts  a  construction  upon  that  act  [the  Constitution]  favorable  to 
the  [central]  government  of  the  Union ;  far  from  standing  forth 
as  the  champion  of  centralization,  General  Jackson  is  the  agent 
of  the  State  jealousies  [!] ;  and  he  was  placed  in  this  lofty 
station  by  the  passions  which  are  most  opposed  to  the  central 
government.  It  is  by  perpetually  flattering  those  passions  that 
he  maintains  his  station  and  his  popularity.  General  Jackson  is 
the  slave  of  the  majority  ;  he  yields  to  its  wishes,  its  propensities, 
and  its  demands  —  say,  rather,  anticipates  and  forestalls  them. 

Whenever  the  governments  of  the  States  come  into  collision 
with  that  of  the  Union,  the  President  is  generally  the  first  to 
question  his  own  rights,  —  he  almost  always  outstrips  the  legis 
lature  ;  and  when  the  extent  of  the  Federal  power  is  controverted, 
he  takes  part,  as  it  were,  against  himself.  .  .  .  Not,  indeed,  that 
he  is  naturally  weak  or  hostile  to  the  Union;  for  when  the 
majority  decided  against  the  claims  of  nullification,  he  put  him 
self  at  their  head,  asserted  the  doctrines  which  the  nation  held 
distinctly  and  energetically,  and  was  the  first  to  recommend  force ; 
but  General  Jackson  appears  to  me,  if  I  may  use  the  American 
expression,  to  be  a  Federalist  by  taste  and  a  Republican  by 
calculation. 

General  Jackson  stoops  to  gain  the  favor  of  the  majority ; 
but  when  he  feels  that  his  popularity  is  secure,  he  overthrows 
all  obstacles  in  the  pursuit  of  the  objects  which  the  community 
approves,  or  of  those  which  it  does  not  regard  with  jealousy. 
Supported  by  a  power  which  his  predecessors  never  had,  he 


"  The  Reign  of  Andrew  Jackson  "  267 

tramples  on  his  personal  enemies,  whenever  they  cross  his  path, 
with  a  facility  without  example;  he  takes  upon  himself  the 
responsibility  of  measures  which  no  one  before  him  would  have 
ventured  to  attempt ;  he  even  treats  the  national  representatives 
with  a  disdain  approaching  to  insult ;  he  puts  his  veto  upon  the 
laws  of  Congress,  and  frequently  neglects  even  to  reply  to  that 
powerful  body.  He  is  a  favorite  who  sometimes  treats  his  master 
roughly.  The  power  of  General  Jackson  perpetually  increases, 
but  that  of  the  President  declines ;  in  his  hands,  the  Federal 
government  is  strong,  but  it  will  pass  enfeebled  into  the  hands 
of  his  successor. 

As  for  the  treatment  of  "  disdain  approaching  to  insult," 
the  "  national  representatives  "  were  not  a  whit  less  accom 
plished  in  its  use  than  was  General  Jackson.  When  they 
spread  upon  the  records  of  the  Senate  a  vote  of  censure 
of  the  President  for  the  removal  of  the  deposits  from  the 
National  Bank  in  the  summer  of  1833,  he  replied  in  a 
vigorous  protest,  April  15,  1834. 

To  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  : 

It  appears  by  the  published  Journal  of  the  Senate  that  on 
the  26th  of  December  last  a  resolution  was  offered  by  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Senate  [Clay],1  which  after  a  protracted  debate  was 

1  Henry  Clay  in  the  original  form  of  the  resolutions  called  the  Presi 
dent's  action  "  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the  people."  In  presenting 
the  resolutions  before  a  crowded  house,  he  said :  "  We  are  in  the  midst 
of  a  revolution  hitherto  bloodless,  but  rapidly  tending  toward  a  total 
change  of  the  pure  republican  character  of  our  government,  and  to  the 
concentration  of  all  power  in  the  hands  of  one  man.  The  powers  of 
Congress  are  paralyzed,  except  when  exerted  in  conformity  with  his 
will,  by  frequent  and  extraordinary  exercise  of  the  Executive  veto.  .  .  . 
By  the  3^  of  March,  1837,  if  the  progress  of  innovation  continues,  there 
will  be  scarcely  a  vestige  remaining  of  the  government  and  its  policy 
as  they  existed  prior  to  the  3d  of  March,  1829.  In  a  term  of  eight  years, 
a  little  more  than  equal  to  that  which  was  required  to  establish  our 
liberties,  the  government  will  have  been  transformed  into  an  elective 
monarchy  —  the  worst  of  all  forms  of  government."  —  Congressional 
Debates,  ed.  Gales  and  Seaton,  1834,  Vol.  X,  Part  I,  p.  59. 


268  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

on  the  28th  of  March  last  modified  by  the  mover  and  passed 
by  the  votes  of  twenty-six  senators  out  of  forty-six  who  were 
present  and  voted,1  in  the  following  words,  viz. : 

Resolved,  That  the  President,  in  the  late  Executive  proceedings  in 
relation  to  the  public  revenue,  has  assumed  upon  himself  authority  and 
power  not  conferred  by  the  Constitution  and  laws,  but  in  derogation 
of  both. 

Having  had  the  honor,  through  the  voluntary  suffrages  of 
the  American  people,  to  fill  the  office  of  President  of  the  United 
States  during  the  period  which  may  be  presumed  to  have  been 
referred  to  in  this  resolution,  it  is  sufficiently  evident  that  the 
censure  it  inflicts  was  intended  for  myself.  Without  notice,  un 
heard  and  untried,  I  thus  find  myself  charged  on  the  records 
of  the  Senate,  and  in  a  form  hitherto  unknown  in  our  history, 
with  the  high  crime  of  violating  the  laws  and  Constitution  of 
my  country.  .  .  . 

Under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  the  powers  and 
functions  of  the  various  departments  of  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  and  their  responsibilities  for  violation  or  neglect  of  duty 
are  clearly  defined,  or  result  by  necessary  inference ;  .  .  .  each 
of  the  three  great  departments  is  independent  of  the  others  in 
its  sphere  of  action,  and  when  it  deviates  from  that  sphere  is 
not  responsible  to  the  others  further  than  it  is  expressly  made 
so  in  the  Constitution.  In  every  other  respect  each  of  them  is 
the  coequal  of  the  other  two,  and  all  are  the  servants  of  the 
American  people,  without  power  or  right  to  control  or  censure 
each  other  in  the  service  of  their  common  superior  [the  people], 
save  only  in  the  manner  and  to  the  degree  which  that  superior 
has  prescribed.  .  .  . 

Tested  by  these  principles,  the  Resolution  of  the  Senate  is 
wholly  unauthorized  by  the  Constitution,  and  in  derogation  of 
its  entire  spirit.  It  assumes  that  a  single  branch  of  the  legisla 
tive  department  may,  for  the  purposes  of  a  public  censure,  con 
sider  and  decide  upon  the  official  acts  of  the  Executive.  But  in 

1  Notice  that  this  falls  short  of  the  two-thirds  majority  that  would 
have  been  necessary  to  convict  Jackson  had  he  been  tried  on  a  regular 
charge  of  impeachment. 


"  The  Reign  of  Andrew  Jackson  "  269 

no  part  of  the  Constitution  is  the  President  subjected  to  any 
such  responsibility,  and  in  no  part  of  that  instrument  is  any 
such  power  conferred  on  either  branch  of  the  Legislature.  .  .  . 
The  impeachment,  instead  of  being  preferred  and  prosecuted 
by  the  House  of  Representatives,  originated  in  the  Senate,  and 
was  prosecuted  without  the  aid  or  concurrence  of  the  other 
House.  The  oath  or  affirmation  prescribed  by  the  Constitution 
was  not  taken  by  the  Senators,  the  Chief  Justice  did  not  pre 
side,  no  notice  of  the  charge  was  given  to  the  accused,  and  no 
opportunity  afforded  him  ...  to  be  heard  in  his  defense.  .  .  . 

The  honest  differences  of  opinion  which  occasionally  exist 
between  the  Senate  and  the  President  in  regard  to  matters  in 
which  both  are  obliged  to  participate  are  sufficiently  embarrass 
ing;  but  if  the  course  recently  adopted  by  the  Senate  shall 
hereafter  be  frequently  pursued,  it  is  not  only  obvious  that  the 
harmony  of  the  relations  between  the  President  and  the  Senate 
will  be  destroyed,  but  that  other  and  graver  effects  will  ulti 
mately  ensue.  If  the  censures  of  the  Senate  be  submitted  to  by 
the  President,  the  confidence  of  the  people  in  his  ability  and 
virtue,  and  the  character  and  usefulness  of  his  Administration 
will  soon  be  at  an  end,  and  the  real  power  of  the  Government 
will  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  body  holding  their  offices  for  long 
terms,  not  elected  by  the  people  and  not  to  them  directly  re 
sponsible.  .  .  .  With  this  view,  and  for  the  reasons  which  have 
been  stated,  I  do  hereby  solemnly  protest  against  the  afore 
mentioned  proceedings  of  the  Senate  as  unauthorized  by  the 
Constitution.  .  .  . 

The  resolution  of  the  Senate  contains  an  imputation  upon 
my  private  as  well  as  upon  my  public  character,  and,  as  it  must 
stand  forever  on  their  journals,1  I  cannot  close  this  substitute 
for  that  defense  which  I  have  not  been  allowed  to  present  in 
the  ordinary  form  without  remarking  that  I  have  lived  in  vain 
if  it  be  necessary  to  enter  into  a  formal  vindication  of  my  char 
acter  and  purposes  from  such  an  imputation.  ...  In  the  his 
tory  of  conquerors  and  usurpers,  never  in  the  fire  of  youth  nor 

1  As  a  matter  of  fact,  after  a  bitter  fight  in  the  Senate  lasting  for 
three  years,  and  headed  by  Thomas  H.  Benton,  the  resolution  was 
expunged,  January  16,  1837. 


270  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

in  the  vigor  of  manhood  could  I  find  an  attraction  to  lure  me 
from  the  path  of  duty,  and  now  I  shall  scarcely  find  an  induce 
ment  to  commence  their  career  of  ambition,  when  grey  hairs 
and  a  decaying  frame,  instead  of  inviting  to  toil  and  battle,  call 
me  to  the  contemplation  of  other  worlds,  where  conquerors 
cease  to  be  honored  and  usurpers  expiate  their  crimes.  The 
only  ambition  I  can  feel  is  to  acquit  myself  to  Him  to  whom  I 
must  soon  render  an  account  of  my  stewardship,  to  serve  my 
fellow-men,  and  live  respected  and  honored  in  the  history  of 
my  country.  No,  the  ambition  which  leads  me  on  is  an  anxious 
desire  and  a  fixed  determination  to  return  to  the  people  unim 
paired  the  sacred  trust  they  have  confided  to  my  charge ;  to 
heal  the  wounds  of  the  Constitution  and  preserve  it  from  further 
violation ;  to  persuade  my  countrymen,  so  far  as  I  may,  that  it 
is  not  in  a  splendid  government  supported  by  powerful  monopo 
lies  and  aristocratical  establishments  that  they  will  find  happi 
ness  or  their  liberties  protection,  but  in  a  plain  system,  void  of 
pomp,  protecting  all  and  granting  favors  to  none,  dispensing  its 
blessings,  like  the  dews  of  Heaven,  unseen  and  unfelt  save  in 
•  the  freshness  and  beauty  they  contribute  to  produce.  .  .  . 

I  respectfully  request  that  this  message  and  protest  may  be 
entered  at  length  on  the  journals  of  the  Senate. 

Andrew  Jackson 

"  The  secession  movement,"  says  Professor  Houston, 
"  dates  definitely  from  1824.  In  the  period  from  1824  to 
1832  all  the  principles  that  were  fought  for  in  the  Civil 
[230]  War  were  formally  enunciated  by  South  Carolina,  and  a 
determination  to  apply  them,  if  it  should  become  necessary, 
was  repeatedly  expressed."1  In  1830  George  McDuffie, 
Congressman  from  South  Carolina,  a  sensational  orator, 
and  a  most  extreme  advocate  of  state  sovereignty,  denounced 
the  oppressive  tariff  measures  in  a  fiery  speech  before  a 
crowded  House. 

1  D.  F.  Houston,  A  Critical  Study  of  Nullification  in  South  Carolina, 
p.  v. 


'  *  The  Reign  of  A  ndreiv  Jackson  "  271 

It  is  vain,  then,  that  the  people  of  the  South  attempt  to 
palter  with  this  question,  or  to  disguise  any  longer  the  sad 
reality  of  their  condition.  They  have  no  security  against  tax 
ation,  but  the  will  of  those  who  have  a  settled  interest  and  a 
fixed  determination  to  increase  their  burdens ;  they  have  no 
rights  of  property,  no  title  to  that  commerce  which  gives  the 
principal  value  to  the  productions  of  their  industry,  which 
they  do  not  hold  by  the  same  miserable  and  degrading  tenure. 
They  are,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  the  slaves  of  northern 
monopolists.  If  I  were  called  on  to  give  a  definition  of  slavery, 
I  could  not  use  language  more  appropriate  than  that  which 
should  accurately  describe  the  condition  of  the  people  of  the 
Southern  States. 

There  is  no  form  of  despotism  that  has  ever  existed  upon 
the  face  of  the  earth,  more  monstrous  and  horrible  than  that  of 
a  representative  Government  acting  beyond  the  sphere  of  its  re 
sponsibility.  Liberty  is  an  empty  sound,  and  representation  worse 
than  a  vain  delusion,  unless  the  action  of  the  Government  be  so 
regulated  that  responsibility  and  power  shall  be  co-extensive. 
Now,  I  would  be  glad  to  know,  under  what  responsibility  the 
majority  of  this  House  act,  in  imposing  burdens  upon  the  in 
dustry  of  the  southern  people,  and  in  waging  this  merciless  war 
fare  against  their  commerce.  Are  they,  in  the  slightest  degree, 
responsible  to  those  upon  whom  they  impose  these  heavy  bur 
dens  ?  Have  they  any  feelings  of  common  interest  or  common 
sympathy  to  restrain  them  from  oppression  and  tyranny  ?  Does 
the  system  of  prohibitory  duties,  which  falls  with  such  destructive 
power  upon  the  dearest  interests  of  the  southern  people,  impose 
any  burden,  or  inflict  any  injury  at  all,  upon  the  constituents  of 
that  majority  by  which  it  has  been  adopted  ? 

The  very  reverse  of  this  is  the  truth.  The  majority  which 
imposes  these  oppressive  taxes  upon  the  people  of  the  South, 
so  far  from  being  responsible  to  them,  .  .  .  are  responsible  to 
the  very  men  who  have  been,  for  the  last  ten  years,  making  the 
welkin  ring  with  their  clamors  for  the  imposition  of  these  very 
burdens.  Yes,  sir,  those  who  lay  the  iron  hand  of  unconstitu 
tional  and  lawless  taxation  upon  the  people  of  the  southern 
States,  are  not  the  representatives  of  those  who  pay  the  taxes, 


272  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

or  have  any  participation  in  it,  but  the  representatives  of  those 
who  receive  the  bounty,  and  put  it  in  their  pockets.  .  .  . 

I  am  aware  that  the  answer  given  to  all  this  will  be,  that  it  is 
the  right  of  the  majority  to  govern,  and  the  duty  of  the  minority 
to  submit.  There  is  no  political  principle  more  undeniably  true, 
in  all  the  cases  to  which  it  properly  applies.  .  .  . 

It  is  contrary  to  the  clearest  principles  of  natural  justice,  that 
the  majority,  merely  because  they  have  the  power,  should  violate 
the  rights  and  destroy  the  separate  and  peculiar  interests  of  the 
minority.  This  would  make  power  and  right  synonymous  terms. 
The  majority  have  no  natural  right,  in  any  case  to  govern  the 
minority.  It  is  a  mere  conventional  right,  growing  out  of  neces 
sity  and  convenience.  On  the  contrary,  the  right  of  the  minority 
to  the  enjoyment  of  life,  liberty,  and  property,  without  any  un 
just  interference  on  the  part  of  the  majority,  is  the  most  sacred 
of  the  natural  rights  of  man. 

When  the  great  antagonistic  interests  of  society  become 
arrayed  against  each  other,  particularly  when  they  are  separated 
by  distance,  and  distinguished  by  a  difference  of  climate,  char 
acter,  and  civil  institutions,  the  great  object  of  the  Government 
should  undoubtedly  be,  not  to  become  the  partisan  of  either  of 
those  interests,  but  to  interpose  its  power  for  the  purpose  of 
preventing  the  stronger  from  destroying  the  weaker.  Instead, 
however,  of  assuming  this  attitude,  instead  of  restraining  the 
major  interest  from  doing  this  act  of  injustice  and  oppression, 
this  Government  degrades  itself  into  the  character  of  a  partisan 
of  the  stronger  interest,  and  an  instrument  of  its  oppression.  It 
cannot  be  otherwise,  sir,  as  long  as  the  majority  in  Congress, 
being  nothing  more  than  the  agent  of  the  major  interest  in  the 
Confederacy,  assumes  the  power  of  arbitrarily  and  unjustly  ap 
propriating  to  its  own  use  the  rightful  and  exclusive  property 
of  the  minority. 

Only  a  few  weeks  before  this  speech  of  McDuffie's  in 
the  House,  Daniel  Webster,  in  his  famous  reply  to  Senator 
Hayne  of  South  Carolina,  had  given  classic  expression  to 
the  doctrine  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  Union,  basing  his 


"  The  Reign  of  Andrew  Jackson  "  273 

argument  on  the  two  clauses  of  the  Constitution  which  he 
called  "  the  keystone  of  the  arch,"  namely  :  that  the  Con 
stitution  and  the  laws  made  in  pursuance  of  it  were  the 
"  supreme  law  of  the  land,"  in  spite  of  anything  in  the 
Constitution  or  laws  of  any  state  (Art.  VI,  par.  2)  ;  and 
the  power  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
should  "  extend  to  all  cases  .  .  .  arising  under  the  Consti 
tution  and  laws  of  the  Union  "  (Art.  Ill,  Sect.  II,  par.  i). 
Webster  finds  no  room  for  state  sovereignty  beside  this 
sovereignty  of  the  Union : 

For  myself,  sir,  I  do  not  admit  the  competency  of  South 
Carolina,  or  any  other  State,  to  prescribe  my  constitutional 
duty ;  or  to  settle,  between  me  and  the  people,  the  validity  of 
laws  of  Congress,  for  which  I  have  voted.  I  decline  her  um- 
pirage.  I  have  not  sworn  to  support  the  Constitution  according 
to  her  construction  of  its  clauses.  I  have  not  stipulated  by  my 
oath  of  office  or  otherwise,  to  come  under  any  responsibility, 
except  to  the  people,  and  those  whom  they  have  appointed  to 
pass  upon  the  question,  whether  laws,  supported  by  my  votes, 
conform  to  the  Constitution  of  the  Country.1  And,  sir,  if  we 
look  to  the  general  nature  of  the  case,  could  anything  have 
been  more  preposterous,  than  to  make  a  government  for  the 
whole  Union,  and  yet  leave  its  powers  subject,  not  to  one  inter 
pretation,  but  to  thirteen  or  twenty-four  interpretations  ?  Instead 
of  one  tribunal,  established  by  all,  responsible  to  all,  with  power 
to  decide  for  all,  shall  constitutional  questions  be  left  to  four- 
and-twenty  popular  bodies,  each  at  liberty  to  decide  for  itself, 
and  none  bound  to  respect  the  decision  of  others ;  and  each  at 

1  Webster  refers  to  the  Supreme  Court.  But  the  people  "appointed" 
the  Supreme  Court  only  in  the  sense  of  accepting  a  constitution  pro 
viding  for  the  establishment  of  that  body.  The  members  of  the  Court 
are  "  appointed  "  by  the  president.  Furthermore,  the  Constitution  no 
where  explicitly  confers  on  the  Court  the  power  to  decide  whether  laws 
"  conform  to  the  Constitution  of  the  country."  That  power  was  assumed 
as  a  necessary  part  of  its  right  to  decide  cap  :s  arising  under  the  Con 
stitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States. 


274  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

liberty,  too,  to  give  a  new  construction  on  every  new  election 
of  its  own  members  ?  Would  anything  with  such  a  principle  in 
it,  or  rather  with  such  a  destitution  of  all  principle,  be  fit  to  be 
called  a  government  ?  No,  sir.  It  should  not  be  denominated 
a  Constitution.  It  should  be  called,  rather,  a  collection  of  topics 
for  everlasting  controversy ;  heads  of  debate  for  a  disputatious 
people.  It  would  not  be  a  government.  It  would  not  be  ade 
quate  to  any  practical  good,  or  fit  for  any  country  to  live  under 

I  have  not  allowed  myself,  sir,  to  look  beyond  the  Union,  to 
see  what  might  lie  hidden  in  the  dark  recess  behind.  I  have  not 
coolly  weighed  the  chances  of  preserving  liberty  when  the  bonds 
that  unite  us  together  shall  be  broken  asunder.  I  have  not 
accustomed  myself  to  hang  over  the  precipice  of  disunion,  to 
see  whether,  with  my  short  sight,  I  can  fathom  the  depth  of 
the  abyss  below ;  nor  could  I  regard  him  as  a  safe  counsellor  in 
the  affairs  of  this  government,  whose  thoughts  should  be  mainly 
bent  on  considering,  not  how  the  Union  may  best  be  preserved, 
but  how  tolerable  might  be  the  condition  of  the  people  when  it 
should  be  broken  up  and  destroyed.  While  the  Union  lasts,  we 
have  high,  exciting,  gratifying  prospects  spread  out  before  us, 
for  us  and  our  children.  Beyond  that  I  seek  not  to  penetrate 
the  veil.  God  grant  that  in  my  day,  at  least,  that  curtain  may 
not  rise !  God  grant  that  orv  my  vision  never  may  be  opened 
what  lies  behind !  When  my  eyes  shall  be  turned  to  behold  for 
the  last  time  the  sun  in  heaven,  may  I  not  see  him  shining  on 
the  broken  and  dishonored  fragments  of  a  once  glorious  Union ; 
on  States  dissevered,  discordant,  belligerent ;  on  a  land  rent  with 
civil  feuds,  or  drenched,  it  may  be,  in  fraternal  blood  !  Let  their 
last  feeble  and  lingering  glance  rather  behold  the  gorgeous  en 
sign  of  the  republic,  now  known  and  honored  throughout  the 
earth,  still  full  high  advanced,  its  arms  and  trophies  streaming 
in  their  original  lustre,  not  a  stripe  erased  or  polluted,  not  a 
single  star  obscured,  bearing  for  its  motto  no  such  miserable 
interrogatory  as  "What  is  all  this  worth?"  nor  those  other  words 
of  delusion  and  folly,  "  Liberty  first  and  Union  afterwards";  but 
everywhere,  spread  all  over  in  characters  of  living  light,  blazing 
on  all  its  ample  folds,  as  they  float  over  the  sea  and  over  the 
land,  and  in  every  wind  under  the  whole  heavens,  that  other 


"  The  Reign  of  Andrew  Jackson  "  275 

sentiment,  dear  to  every  true  American  heart,  —  Liberty  and 
Union,  now  and  forever,  one  and  inseparable ! 

The  agitation  over  the  tariff  and  states'  rights  divided 
the  state  of  South  Carolina  into  the  "Union"  and  "Nul 
lification"  parties.  And  when  the  legislature  of  1831 
authorized  Governor  Hamilton  to  call  a  convention  of  the 
people  of  the  state  to  deliberate  on  their  relation  to  the 
Union,  both  parties  began  an  active  campaign  to  win  dele 
gates.  The  Union  party  planned  a  grand  program  (pro 
cession,  speeches,  banquet)  for  July  4,  1831,  at  Charleston, 
"to  celebrate  the  fifty-fifth  anniversary  of  American  inde 
pendence."  President  Jackson  was  invited  to  speak  at  the 
banquet.  His  reply  to  the  committee  was  as  follows  : 

Washington  City,  June  14,  1831 
•GENTLEMEN,  — 

It  would  afford  me  much  pleasure,  could  I  at  the  same  time 
accept  your  invitation  of  the  5th  instant  and  that  with  which  I 
was  before  honored  by  the  municipal  authorities  of  Charleston. 
A  necessary  "attention  to  the  duties  of  my  office  must  deprive 
me  of  the  gratification  I  should  have  had  in  paying,  under  such 
circumstances,  a  visit  to  the  State  of  which  I  feel  a  pride  in 
calling  myself  a  citizen  by  birth. 

Could  I  accept  your  invitation,  it  would  be  with  the  hope 
that  all  parties  —  all  the  men  of  talent,  exalted  patriotism,  and 
private  worth,  who  have  been  divided  in  the  manner  you  de 
scribe  —  might  be  found  united  before  the  altar  of  their  country 
on  the  day  set  apart  for  the  solemn  celebration  of  its  independ 
ence —  independence  which  cannot  exist  without  Union,  and 
with  it  is  eternal. 

Every  enlightened  citizen  must  know  that  a  separation,  could 
it  be  effected,  would  begin  with  civil  discord,  and  end  in  colonial 
dependence  on  a  foreign  power,  and  obliteration  from  the  list  of 
nations.  But  he  should  also  see  that  high  and  sacred  duties  which 
must  and  will,  at  all  hazards,  be  performed,  present  an  insur 
mountable  barrier  to  the  success  of  any  plan  of  disorganization, 


276  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

by  whatever  patriotic  name  it  may  be  decorated,  or  whatevei 
high  feelings  may  be  arrayed  for  its  support.  .  .  . 

Knowing  as  I  do  the  private  worth,  and  public  virtues  of  dis 
tinguished  citizens  to  whom  declarations  inconsistent  with  an 
attachment  to  this  Union  have  been  ascribed,  I  cannot  but  hope 
that,  if  accurately  reported,  they  were  the  effect  of  momentary 
excitement,  not  deliberate  design ;  and  that  such  men  can  never 
have  formed  the  project  of  pursuing  a  course  of  redress  through 
any  other  than  constitutional  means ;  but  if  I  am  mistaken  in 
this  charitable  hope,  then  in  the  language  of  the  father  of  our 
country,  I  would  conjure  them  to  estimate  properly  "  the  im 
mense  value  of  your  national  Union  to  your  collective  and 
individual  happiness  "  ;  to  "  cherish  a  cordial,  habitual,  and  im 
movable  attachment  to  it,  accustoming  yourselves  to  think  and 
speak  of  it  as  the  palladium  of  your  political  safety  and  pros 
perity,  watching  for  its  preservation  with  jealous  anxiety ;  dis 
countenancing  whatever  may  suggest  even  a  suspicion  that  it 
can,  in  any  event,  be  abandoned ;  and  indignantly  frowning  on 
the  first  dawning  of  every  attempt  to  alienate  any  portion  of 
our  country  from  the  rest,  or  to  enfeeble  the  sacred  ties  which 
now  link  together  the  various  parts."  .  .  . 

The  grave  subjects  introduced  in  your  letter  of  invitation 
have  drawn  from  me  the  frank  exposition  of  opinions  which  I 
have  neither  interest  nor  inclination  to  conceal.  .  .  . 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  respect,  your  humble  and 
obedient  servant,  Andrew  Jackson , 

The  Nullification  party  grew  steadily  stronger  in  South 
Carolina,  and  when  Congress,  in  the  tariff  bill  of  1832, 

1  The  toast  to  President  Jackson  at  the  dinner  was  :  "  He  will  fill  the 
measure  of  his  glory  by  preserving  the  Union  without  impairing  the 
rights  of  the  States."  The  bitterness  to  which  partisanship  can  lead  is 
shown  in  John  Quincy  Adams'  entry  in  his  diary  on  the  occasion  when 
the  man  who  wrote  the  excellent  letter  above  quoted  was  given  an 
honorary  degree  at  Harvard:  "Myself  an  affectionate  child  of  our  alma 
mater,  I  would  not  be  present  to  witness  her  disgrace  in  conferring  her 
highest  literary  honors  upon  a  barbarian  who  could  not  write  a  sentence 
of  grammar  and  hardly  could  spell  his  name."  —  John  Quincy  Adams, 
Memoirs,  Vol.  IV,  p.  5. 


'  '  The  Reign  of  A  ndrew  Jackson  "  277 

refused  to  abandon  the  doctrine  of  protection,  Governor 
Hamilton,  on  the  authorization  of  the  legislature,  called  a 
convention  to  deal  with  the  tariff  laws.  On  November  24, 
1832,  the  convention,  by  a  vote  of  136  to  26,  passed  the 
following  ordinance  : 

Whereas  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  by  various  acts, 
purporting  to  be  acts  laying  duties  and  imposts  on  foreign  im 
ports,  but  in  reality  intended  for  the  protection  of  domestic 
manufactures  .  .  .  hath  exceeded  its  just  powers  under  the 
Constitution,  which  confers  on  it  no  authority  to  afford  such 
protection,  and  hath  violated  the  true  meaning  and  intent  of 
the  Constitution,  which  provides  for  equality  in  imposing  the 
burthens  of  taxation  upon  the  several  States  and  portions  of  the 
Confederacy.  .  .  . 

We,  therefore,  the  people  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  in 
Convention  assembled,  do  declare  and  ordain  .  .  .  that  the  sev 
eral  acts  and  parts  of  acts  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
purporting  to  be  laws  for  the  imposing  of  duties  and  imposts  on 
the  importation  of  foreign  commodities  .  .  .  are  unauthorized  by 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  violate  the  true  mean 
ing  and  intent  thereof,  and  are  null,  void,  and  no  law,  nor  bind 
ing  upon  this  State,  its  officers  or  citizens.  .  .  . 

And  it  is  further  ordained,  that  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  any 
of  the  constituted  authorities,  whether  of  this  State  or  of  the 
United  States,  to  enforce  the  payment  of  duties  imposed  by  the 
said  acts  within  the  limits  of  this  State.  .  .  . 

And  it  is  further  ordained,  that  all  persons  now  holding  any 
office  of  honor,  profit,  or  trust,  civil  or  military,  under  this  State 
.  .  .  shall  .  .  .  take  an  oath  well  and  truly  to  obey,  execute,  and 
enforce  this  ordinance,  and  such  act  or  acts  of  the  Legislature 
as  may  be  passed  in  pursuance  thereof.  .  .  . 

And  we,  the  people  of  South  Carolina,  to  the  end  that  it  may 
be  fully  understood  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  people  of  the  co-States,  that  we  are  determined  to  main 
tain  this,  our  ordinance  and  declaration,  at  every  hazard,  do 
further  declare  that  we  will  not  submit  to  the  application  of  force, 


2/8  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

on  the  part  of  the  Federal  Government,  to  reduce  this  State  to 
obedience ;  but  that  we  will  consider  the  passage,  by  Congress, 
of  any  act  authorizing  the  employment  of  a  military  or  naval 
force  against  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  her  constituted  au 
thorities  or  citizens  ...  as  inconsistent  with  the  longer  continu 
ance  of  South  Carolina  in  the  Union :  and  that  the  people  of 
this  State  will . .  .  forthwith  proceed  to  organize  a  separate  Gov 
ernment,  and  do  all  other  acts  and  things  which  sovereign  and 
independent  States  may  of  right  do. 

Done  in  Convention  at  Columbia,  24  November  1832. 

A  NEW  PARTY 

69.  Early  Fanny  Kemble,  the  famous  English  actress,  who  visited 

the  Railroad    America  in  1832,  gives  the  following  amusing  description 

[238]        °f  a  journey  by  boat,  stage,  and  railroad  from  New  York 

to  Philadelphia.    The  party  embarked  on  the  Philadelphia 

boat  at  six  o'clock  on  an  October  morning,  at  the  docks  at 

the  foot  of  Barclay  Street,  and  crossing  New  York  Bay 

sailed  a  few  miles  up  the  Raritan  River. 

At  about  half-past  ten  we  reached  the  place  where  we  leave 
the  river,  to  proceed  across  a  part  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey 
to  the  Delaware.  The  landing  was  beyond  measure  wretched : 
the  shore  shelved  down  to  the  water's  edge ;  and  its  marshy, 
clayey,  sticky  soil,  rendered  doubly  soft  and  squashy  by  the 
damp  weather,  was  strewn  over  with  broken  potsherds,  stones, 
and  bricks,  by  way  of  pathway;  these,  however,  presently  failed, 
and  some  slippery  planks,  half  immersed  in  mud,  were  the  only 
roads  to  the  coaches  that  stood  ready  to  receive  the  passengers 
of  the  steam-boat.  Oh,  these  coaches !  English  eye  hath  not 
seen,  English  ear  hath  not  heard,  nor  hath  it  entered  into  the 
heart  of  Englishmen  to  conceive  the  surpassing  clumsiness  and 
wretchedness  of  these  leathern  inconveniences.  They  are  shaped 
something  like  boats,  the  sides  being  merely  leathern  pieces,  re 
movable  at  pleasure,  but  which,  in  bad  weather,  are  buttoned 
down  to  protect  the  inmates  from  the  wet.  .  .  .  For  the  first 


"  The  Reign  of  Andrew  Jackson  "  279 

few  minutes  I  thought  I  must  have  fainted  from  the  intolerable 
sensation  of  smothering  which  I  experienced.  However,  the 
leathers  having  been  removed,  and  a  little  more  air  obtained,  I 
took  heart  of  grace  and  resigned  myself  to  my  fate.  Away 
walloped  the  four  horses,  trotting  with  their  front,  and  galloping 
with  their  hind  legs ;  and  away  we  went  after  them,  bumping, 
thumping,  jumping,  jolting,  shaking,  tossing,  tumbling,  over  the 
wickedest  road,  I  do  think  the  cruellest,  hard-heartedest  road 
that  ever  wheel  rumbled  upon.  Through  bog 'and  marsh,  and 
ruts  wider  and  deeper  than  any  Christian  ruts  I  ever  saw,  with 
the  roots  of  trees  protruding  across  our  path ;  their  boughs  every 
now  and  then  giving  us  an  affectionate  scratch  through  the  win 
dows  ;  and  more  than  once  a  half-demolished  trunk  or  stump 
lying  in  the  middle  of  the  road  lifting  us  up,  and  letting  us  down 
again,  with  the  most  awful  variations  of  our  poor  coach  body 
from  its  natural  position.  Bones  of  me !  what  a  road !  Even 
my  father's  solid  proportions  could  not  keep  their  level,  but  were 
jerked  up  to  the  roof  and  down  again  every  three  minutes.  Our 
companions  seemed  nothing  dismayed  by  these  wondrous  per 
formances  of  a  coach  and  four,  but  laughed  and  talked  inces 
santly,  the  young  ladies  at  the  very  top  of  their  voices,  and  with 
the  national  nasal  twang.  .  .  . 

At  the  end  of  fourteen  miles  we  turned  into  a  swampy  field, 
the  whole  fourteen  coachfuls  of  us,  and,  by  the  help  of  Heaven, 
bag  and  baggage  were  packed  into  the  coaches  which  stood  on 
the  rail-way  ready  to  receive  us.  These  carriages  were  not  drawn 
by  steam,  like  those  on  the  Liverpool  rail-way,1  but  by  horses, 
with  the  mere  advantage  in  speed  afforded  by  the  iron  ledges, 
which,  to  be  sure,  compared  with  our  previous  progress  through 
the  ruts,  was  considerable.  Our  coachful  got  into  the  first  car 
riage  of  the  train,  escaping,  by  way  of  especial  grace,  the  dust 
which  one's  predecessors  occasion.  This  vehicle  had  but  two 
seats,  in  the  usual  fashion  ;  each  of  which  held  four  of  us.  The 
whole  inside  was  lined  with  blazing  scarlet  leather,  and  the 

1  The  Liverpool  and  Manchester  railway  was  opened  in  1830.  The 
Stephensons'  prize  locomotive,  the  Rocket,  weighing  four  and  one-half 
tons,  drew  cars  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  miles  an  hour,  and  demonstrated 
the  success  of  the  steam  engine  for  rapid  railway  locomotion. 


280  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

windows  shaded  with  stuff  curtains  of  the  same  refreshing  color ; 
which,  with  full  complement  of  passengers,  on  a  fine,  sunny, 
American  summer's  day,  must  make  as  pretty  a  little  miniature 
hell  as  may  be,  I  should  think.  The  baggage-waggon,  which 
went  before  us,  a  little  obstructed  the  view.  .  .  .  This  railroad 
is  an  infinite  blessing ;  't  is  not  yet  finished,  but  shortly  will  be 
so,  and  then  the  whole  of  that  horrible  fourteen  miles  will  be 
performed  in  comfort  and  decency  in  less  than  half  the  time. 
In  about  an  hour  and  a  half  we  reached  the  end  of  our  railroad 
part  of  the  journey,  and  found  another  steamboat  waiting  for 
us,  when  we  all  embarked  on  the  Delaware.  .  .  . 

At  about  four,  o'clock  we  reached  Philadelphia,  having  per 
formed  the  journey  between  that  and  New  York  (a  distance  of  a 
hundred  miles)  in  less  than  ten  hours,  in  spite  of  bogs,  ruts,  and 
all  other  impediments.  The  manager  came  to  look  after  us  and  our 
goods,  and  we  were  presently  stowed  into  a  coach  which  conveyed 
us  to  the  Mansion  House,  the  best  reputed  inn  in  Philadelphia. 

Miss  Kemble  had  hardly  left  our  strenuous  shores  when 
another  still  more  distinguished  Englishwoman,  Miss 
Harriet  Martineau,  historian,  essayist,  economist,  came  for 
a  two  years'  visit.  The  results  of  Miss  Martineau's  exten 
sive  and  discriminating  observations  on  our  politics,  our 
industries,  our  commerce,  our  manners  and  morals,  our  work 
and  our  worship,  our  charities  and  our  children,  were  em 
bodied  in  two  remarkable  volumes  entitled  "  Society  in 
America."  Miss  Martineau  writes  of  her  journeys  in  the 
South  in  the  spring  of  1835  : 

The  only  railroads  completed  in  the  south,  when  I  was  there, 
were  the  Charleston  and  Augusta  one,  two  short  ones  in  the 
States  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi,  and  one  of  five  miles  from 
Lake  Pontchartrain  to  New  Orleans.  There  is  likely  to  be  soon  a 
magnificent  line  from  Charleston  to  Cincinnati ;  and  the  line  from 
Norfolk,  Virginia,  to  New  York,  is  now  almost  uninterrupted.  .  . . 

My  journeys  on  the  Charleston  and  Augusta  railroad  were 
by  far  the  most  fatiguing  of  any  I  underwent  in  the  country, 


'  *  The  Reign  of  A  ndrew  Jackson  "  281 

The  motion  and  the  noise  are  distracting.  Whether  this  is  owing 
to  its  being  built  on  piles  in  many  places ;  whether  the  fault  is 
in  the  ground  or  the  construction,  I  do  not  know.  Almost  all 
the  rail-road  travelling  in  America  is  very  fatiguing  and  noisy. 
I  was  told  that  this  was  chiefly  owing  to  the  roads  being  put  to 
use  as  soon  as  finished,  instead  of  the  work  being  left  to  settle 
for  some  months.  How  far  this  is  true  I  do  not  pretend  to  say. 
The  railroads  which  I  saw  in  progress  were  laid  on  wood  instead 
of  stone.  The  patentee  discovered  that  wood  settles  after  frost 
more  evenly  than  stone.  The  original  cost  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  is  about  two  thousand  dollars  per  mile.1 

One  great  inconvenience  of  the  American  rail-roads  is  that, 
from  wood  being  used  for  fuel,  there  is  an  incessant  shower  of 
large  sparks,  destructive  to  dress  and  comfort,  unless  all  the 
windows  are  shut ;  which  is  impossible  in  warm  weather.  Some 
serious  accidents  from  fire  have  happened  in  this  way ;  and 
during  my  last  trip  on  the  Columbia  and  Philadelphia  rail-road, 
a  lady  in  the  car  had  a  shawl  burned  to  destruction  on  her 
shoulders ;  and  I  found  that  my  own  gown  had  thirteen  holes 
in  it ;  and  my  veil,  with  which  I  saved  my  eyes,  more  than  could 
be  counted.2 .  .  . 

There  are  many  rail-roads  in  Virginia,  and  a  line  to  New  York, 
through  Maryland  and  Delaware.  There  is  in  Kentucky  a  line 
from  Louisville  to  Lexington.  But  it  is  in  Pennsylvania,  New 
York,  Rhode  Island,  and  Massachusetts,  that  they  abound.  All 
have  succeeded  so  admirably,  that  there  is  no  doubt  of  the  estab 
lishment  of  this  means  of  communication  over  nearly  the  whole 
of  the  United  States,  within  a  few  years,  as  by-ways  to  great 
high-ways  [rivers]  which  Nature  has  made  to  run  through  this 
vast  country.  ...  I  believe  the  best-constructed  rail-road  in  the 

1  The  average  cost  of  modern  railroad  construction  in  the  United 
States  is  given  by  Webb   at  $70,000  per  mile.  —  New  Dictionary  of 
Statistics,  p.  513.    London,  1911. 

2  These  annoying  injuries  to  apparel  were  not  the  only  dangers  of  the 
early  railroads.    The  first  American-built  locomotive,  the  Best  Friend, 
running  on  the  Charleston  railroad  in  1830,  was  blown  up  "because  an 
attendant,  annoyed  by  the  sound  of  the  escaping  steam,  fastened  down 
the  safety-valve  " ! 


282  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

States  is  the  Boston  and  Lowell  in  Massachusetts ;  length,  twenty- 
five  miles.  Its  importance,  from  the  amount  of  traffic  upon  it, 
may  be  estimated  from  the  fact  that  ,some  thousands  of  dollars 
were  spent,  the  winter  after  it  was  opened,  in  clearing  away  a 
fall  of  snow  from  it.  It  was  again  covered,  the  next  night. 

Another  line  from  Boston  is  to  Providence,  Rhode  Island, 
forty-three  miles  long.  This  opens  a  very  speedy  communication 
with  New  York;  the  distance,  227  miles,  being  performed  in 
twenty  hours,  by  rail-road  and  steam-boat.  .  .  . 

There  is  now  an  uninterrupted  communication  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  far  end  of  Lake  Michigan.  It  only  remains  to 
extend  a  line  thence  to  the  Mississippi,  and  the  circle  is  complete. 

70.  Labor  The  decade  1 8  30—  1 840  was  marked  by  a  great  number  of 

thirties"1  *  enterprises,  reforms,  and  innovations  which  showed  an 
[238]  awakening  of  interest  among  the  people  at  large  in  politi 
cal  and  social  questions,  and  a  participation  of  the  people 
at  large  in  such  questions,  to  an  extent  never  before  known 
in  our  history.  The  widening  of  the  suffrage,  the  substitu 
tion  of  elective  for  appointive  offices,  humanitarian  reforms 
in  workhouses,  asylums,  and  prisons,  the  multiplication  of 
inventions,  the  frequency  of  mass  meetings  and  conventions, 
the  organization  of  temperance  societies  —  are  all  different 
aspects  of  the  "  new  democracy."  One  of  the  most  inter 
esting  features  of  this  social  ferment  is  the  labor  agitation 
of  the  decade,  of  which  Professor  McMaster  gives  the 
following  summary: 

Along  the  sea-board,  the  hard  times  which  followed  the  re 
moval  of  the  deposits  [1833],  and  the  depressed  state  of  business 
of  every  sort,  caused  by  the  State  banks  refusing  loans,  was 
followed  by  a  reduction  of  wages,  and  discontent  among  the 
workingmen  everywhere.  .  .  .  Four  eastern  factories  had  dis 
missed  eleven  hundred  men.  The  blast  furnaces  of  New  Jersey 
would  soon  be  put  out.  In  Philadelphia  but  eight  building  per 
mits  had  been  issued  during  1834,  as  against  six  hundred  for 


1 '  The  Reign  of  A  ndrew  Jackson  "  283 

the  same  period  in  1833.  These  were  but  typical  instances  of 
a  general  condition  which  bore  heavily  on  the  banks,  the  manu 
facturers,  the  merchants,  and  the  workingmen.  It  was  better 
that  wages  be  low  and  many  have  work,  than  be  high  and  few 
find  employment 

The  workingmen,  however,  thought  otherwise,  and  the  old 
agitation  for  shorter  hours,  better  pay,  and  combined  action  went 
on  with  renewed  energy.  In  October  of  1833  committees  of 
the  various  trade  organizations  in  Philadelphia  were  appointed 
to  confer  on  the  ills  of  labor.  In  Boston,  in  January  1834,  steps 
were  taken  to  form  a  trades  union  of  mechanics,  and  in  March, 
in  each  of  these  cities  a  General  Trades  Union  was  formed,  a 
constitution  adopted,  and  officers  elected.  At  Lowell  in  February 
the  girls  in  the  factories  turned  out  to  prevent  a  reduction  of 
wages ;  but  others  from  the  country  filled  their  places  and  the 
attempt  failed.  .  .  . 

Striking  cabinet-makers  in  New  York  became  so  enraged  at 
the  importation  of  French  furniture  that  a  band  of  them  entered 
an  auction  room  where  some  was  for  sale,  and  destroyed  bureaus, 
sofas,  and  tables  to  the  value  of  a  thousand  dollars.  .  .  .  Coal- 
heavers  on  the  Schuylkill  wharves  in  Philadelphia  struck  for  a 
laboring  day  from  six  in  the  morning  to  six  in  the  evening,  with 
an  hour  for  breakfast  and  another  for  dinner ;  assaulted  those 
who  would  not  join  them,  and  raised  a  riot  the  mayor  found  it 
difficult  to  put  down.  .  .  .  The  seamstresses,  who  made  shirts 
and  pantaloons,  now  appealed  to  the  public  and  stated  their 
grievances.  For  sewing  shirts  they  were  paid  eight,  ten,  or 
twelve  and  a  half  cents  each.  By  working  from  six  in  the  morn 
ing  till  nine  at  night  they  could  make  nine  in  the  course  of  a 
week  ;  thus  earning  seventy-two,  ninety,  or  a  hundred  and  twelve 
cents  per  week.  Carpenters  wrere  paid  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  for 
ten  hours'  work  and  masons  a  dollar  and  three  quarters  for  ten 
hours  of  labor.  That  women  should  be  given  less  for  a  week's 
work  than  carpenters  and  masons  for  one  day's  work  was  cruel 
and  unjust. 

After  a  series  of  meetings  in  Independence  Square,  and  a 
street  parade,  the  carpenters  adopted  a  report  of  a  committee 
demanding  a  six  to  six  day ;  divided  the  city  into  three  districts 


284  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

with  a  committee  for  each  to  watch  the  shops,  and  petitioned 
councils  to  adopt  the  ten-hour  system  for  all  city  work. 
Catching  the  movement  of  the  day,,  the  plumbers  and  wood- 
sawyers  struck  for  higher  pay,  gangs  of  tipsy  seamen  paraded 
the  streets  with  a  banner  inscribed  :  "  Eighteen  dollars  a  month 
and  small  stores  [grog]  or  death ! " ;  the  tailoresses,  seamstresses, 
binders,  folders,  and  stockworkers  demanded  more  wages,  and 
the  block  and  pump  makers,  in  a  card,  thanked  their  employers 
for  accepting  the  ten-hour  day  without  a  struggle. 

Members  of  the  Philadelphia  Trades  Union  met  in  Independ 
ence  Square,  heard  speeches  by  labor  leaders  from  New  England, 
approved  the  stand  taken  by  the  Boston  house-wrights  for  a  ten- 
hour  day,  and  were  urged  to  give  up  some  luxury,  as  tobacco, 
and  contribute  twenty-five  cents  a  week  for  the  support  of  the 
Boston  strikers.  .  .  . 

The  following  extracts  from  contemporaneous  documents 
comprise  (a)  an  appeal  for  the  striking  bakers  in  New  York, 
(b)  the  call  for  a  convention  to  organize  a  general  trade- 
union  in  Boston,  and  (c)  a  communication  on  child  labor 
from  "  many  operatives  "  in  the  Philadelphia  factories. 

(a) 

STRIKE  OF  THE  JOURNEYMEN  BAKERS 

To  THE  PUBLIC  :  the  undersigned  Committee,  appointed  by 
the  general  Trades'  Union,  having  now  before  them  a  well  at 
tested  statement  of  facts  which  sufficiently  prove  that  the  con 
dition  of  the  Journeymen  Bakers  in  this  city  has  been  for  some 
time  in  reality  much  worse  than  that  of  the  southern  slaves, 
submit  for  the  inspection  of  the  public  a  few  instances  taken 
from  a  very  long  list. 

ist.  Three  men  and  a  boy  have  had  to  bake  60  barrels  per 
week,  have  had  to  labor  1 1 5  hours  each  week  (doing  six  men's 
work)  and  have  received  about  50  cents  per  barrel. 

2nd.  Four  men  have  had  to  bake  54  barrels  per  week,  have 
had  to  labor  about  112  hours  each  week  (doing  nearly  six  men's 
work)  and  have  received  about  60  cents  per  barrel.  .  .  . 


'  *  The  Reign  of  A  ndrew  Jackson  "  285. 

The  above  facts  undoubtedly  prove  all  that  we  have  asserted, 
and  now  we  call  upon  the  public  to  know  whether  those  em 
ployers  who  persist  in  requiring  from  their  men  much  more 
than  their  nature  can  long  bear,  viz. :  from  18  to  20  hours  labor 
out  of  the  24 — are  to  be  sustained  in  their  demands,  or  whether 
they  will  not  assist  the  oppressed  Journeymen  in  their  present 
attempt  to  procure  a  fair  equivalent  for  their  labor. 

We  have  also  to  state  that  the  General  Trades'  Union  have 
resolved  to  support  the  Journeymen  Bakers  in  their  present 
course,  and  are  determined  by  all  just  and  honorable  means,  to 
raise  them  if  possible  to  a  fair  standing  among  the  other 
mechanics  of  the  city. 

In  conclusion,  we  respectfully  suggest,  that  the  public  in  gen 
eral  can  in  no  way  more  effectually  support  our  cause,  than  by 
bestowing  their  patronage  on  those  employers  who  have  nobly 
agreed  to  give  the  wages  required.1  In  order  to  accomplish  this 
end,  we  give  below  a  list  of  those  employers,  as  far  as  we  have 
ascertained,  and  shall  continue  to  do  so  from  day  to  day,  until 
all  difficulties  are  adjusted. 

William  Hewitt,  and  others,  Committee  of  the 

General  Trades  Union 
New  York,  June  10,  1834 

(*) 

TRADES  UNION  OF  BOSTON  AND  VICINITY 

FELLOW  CITIZENS  :  At  a  meeting  of  the  workingmen  of  this 
city,  holden  at  the  old  Common  Council  Room,  Court  Square, 
School  Street,  January  21,  1834,  the  subject  of  Trades'  Unions 
came  before  the  meeting.  After  many  interesting  remarks,  a 
Committee  was  appointed  to  take  such  measures  as  they  should 
deem  expedient  to  effect  the  formation  of  a  General  Trades' 
Union  of  the  mechanics  of  this  city  and  vicinity.  The  Com 
mittee  thus  appointed  assembled  at  Bascom's  Hotel,  School- 
street,  on  the  evening  of  January  28th  ult.  They  took  the 

1  A  list  of  twenty-three  such  employers  followed.  The  terms  demanded 
by  the  three  hundred  members  of  the  Bakers'  Trade  Union  were  a 
dollar  per  barrel  with  an  average  of  nine  barrels  a  week  for  each  man, 
and  no  work  on  Sunday  before  8  o'clock  in  the  evening. 


286  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

subject  into  deep  and  serious  consideration,  which  resulted  in  a 
vote  to  issue  a  Circular  to  the  Mechanics  of  Boston  and  vicinity, 
in  order  to  lay  before  them  the  nature  and  design  of  the  pro 
posed  Union  of  Trades.  The  several  trades  were  generally 
represented  in  the  committee.1 

Judging  by  past  experience,  and  close  observation  of  causes 
and  effects,  which  act  in  reducing  the  Working  Class  in  all  coun 
tries  to  a  situation  far  from  enviable,  your  Committee  deem  it  of 
the  very  highest  moment,  that  something  should  be  done  to  im 
prove  the  condition  of  the  mechanics  of  our  city  and  vicinity,  which 
will  prevent  the  fatal  results  which  have  followed  the  adoption  of 
a  cruel  and  heartless  policy  towards  the  Mechanics  of  Europe.  . .  . 

The  cities  of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore,  have 
adopted  this  method  of  concentrated  action  [in  trade-unions] 
to  the  satisfaction  of  all  concerned.  Since  the  formation  of 
Trades'  Unions  in  those  cities,  we  hear  nothing  of  difficulties 
and  dissentions  between  employers  and  employed,  which  in  all 
cases  produce  dissatisfaction,  discontent,  and  distress ;  but  em 
ployers  and  employed  seem  to  be  harmoniously  united  for  the 
mutual  benefit  of  both,  which  ought  always  to  be  the  case. 

If  there  are  a  few  in  those  cities  more  avaricious  than  others, 
who  wish  to  oppress  their  fellow  men  to  aggrandize  themselves, 
the  good  sense  and  humanity  of  the  greater  number  of  honest 
employers  forbid  the  attempt,  which,  if  made  under  the  present 
circumstances  growing  out  of  Trades'  Unions  would  inevitably 
result  in  total  failure.  .  .  . 

It  would  be  impossible  to  give  a  detail  of  all  the  advantages 
of  such  a  Union  of  the  Trades,  but  one  advantage  will  be  ap 
parent  to  you  all  at  first  sight.  Such  a  Union  will  produce  a 
friction  of  mind,  and  no  doubt  that  sparks  of  intellectual  fire 
will  be  thus  elicited,  which  will  electrify,  enlighten,  and  warm 
the  whole  body.  .  .  . 

The  Committee  earnestly  recommend  that  the  Mechanics  of 
the  towns  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston  would  send  delegates  to  the 

1  In  the  convention  which  met  March  6,  in  response  to  this  call, 
there  were  delegates  representing  curriers,  cabinetmakers,  tailors, 
masons,  coopers,  shipwrights,  painters,  ropemakers,  iron  founders, 
printers,  carpenters,  sailmakers,  pianomakers,  and  machinists. 


"The  Reign  of  A  ndrew  Jackson  "  287 

proposed  Convention,  furnished  with  the  proper  credentials.  .  . . 
Those  trades  which  have  societies  already  formed  are  requested 
to  take  measures  to  be  represented  in  the  Convention.  All  of 
which  is  respectfully  submitted  by  the 

Committee 
Boston,  Feb.  n,  1834 

w 

CHILDREN  IN  THE  PHILADELPHIA  FACTORIES 

In  looking  over  one  of  your  late  numbers  [of  the  Mechanics' 
Free  Press\  I  was  rejoiced  to  find  that  some  friend  has  noticed 
the  sufferings  of  people  employed  in  our  manufactories ;  par 
ticularly  in  that  of  cotton.  It  is  a  well  known  fact,  that  the 
principal  part  of  the  helps  in  cotton  factories  consist  of  boys 
and  girls,  we  may  safely  say  from  six  to  seventeen  years  of  age, 
and  are  confined  to  steady  employment  during  the  longest  days 
in  the  year,  from  daylight  until  dark,  allowing  at  the  outside 
one  hour  and  a  half  per  day.  In  consequence  of  this  close  con 
finement,  it  renders  it  entirely  impossible  for  the  parents  of  such 
children  to  obtain  for  them  any  education  or  knowledge,  save 
that  of  working  that  machine,  which  they  are  compelled  to  work, 
and  that  too  with  a  small  sum,  that  is  hardly  sufficient  to  sup 
port  nature,  while  they  on  the  other  hand  are  rolling  in  wealth, 
of [f]  the  vitals  of  these  poor  children  every  day.  We  noticed 
the  observation  of  our  Pawtucket  friend  in  your  number  of 
June  19,  1830,  lamenting  the  grievances  of  the  children  em 
ployed  in  those  factories.  We  think  his  observations  very  correct, 
with  regard  to  their  being  brought  up  as  ignorant  as  Arabs  of 
the  Desert ;  for  we  are  confident  that  not  more  than  one-sixth 
of  the  boys  and  girls  employed  in  such  factories  are  capable  of 
reading  or  writing  their  own  name.  We  have  known  many  in 
stances  where  parents  who  are  capable  of  giving  their  children 
a  trifling  education  one  at  a  time,  deprived  of  that  opportunity 
by  their  employer's  threats,  that  if  they  did  take  one  child  from 
their  employ,  (a  short  time  for  school,)  such  family  must  leave 
the  employment  —  and  we  have  even  known  these  threats  put 
in  execution.  Now,  as  our  friend  observes,  we  may  establish 
schools  and  academies,  and  devise  every  means  for  the  instruction 


288  National  versus  Sectional  Interests 

of  youth  in  vain,  unless  we  also  give  time  for  application ;  we 
have  heard  it  remarked  to  some  employers,  that  it  would  be 
commendable  to  congress  to  shorten  the  hours  of  labour  in  fac 
tories;  the  reply  was:  it  would  be  an  infringement  on  the 
rights  of  the  people.  We  know  the  average  number  of  hands 
employed  by  one  manufacturer  to  be,  at  the  lowest  estimate, 
fifty  men,  women,  and  children.  Now,  the  query  is :  whether 
this  individual,  or  this  number  employed  by  him,  is  the  people. 
It  is  not  our  intention  at  present,  to  undertake  a  thorough 
discussion  of  this  interesting  subject,  but  rather  to  give  some 
hints  on  the  subject,  which,  we  hope,  may  attract  the  notice  of 
your  readers,  and  be  the  means  of  arousing  some  abler  pen  to 
write  on  the  matter;  for  we  think  it  is  high  time  the  public 
should  begin  to  notice  the  evil  that  it  begets.  We  see  the  evil 
that  follows  the  system  of  long  labor  much  better  than  we  can 
express  it ;  but  we  hope  our  weak  endeavors  may  not  prove  in 
effectual.  We  must  acknowledge  our  inability  prevents  us  from 
expressing  our  sentiments  fluently,  at  present,  but  we  hope  to 
appear  again  in  a  more  correct  manner. 

Many  Operatives 


PART  V.   SLAVERY  AND  THE  WEST 


PART  V.    SLAVERY  AND  THE 
WEST 

CHAPTER  XI 

THE  GATHERING  CLOUD 

THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE 
The  prevalence  of  slavery  in  the  colonies  in  the  seven-  71.  The  pe- 


teenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  was  chiefly  due  to  the  gria  coio- 


need  of  laborers  for  the  cultivation  of  the  soil.    A  scanty  nists  f<>r 

population,  without  manufactures,  the  colonists,  especially  ' 

in  the  South,  had  to  work  large  areas  of  land  to  produce 

the  tobacco,  cotton,  rice,  indigo,  and  food-stuffs  to  exchange 

in  Europe  for  their  luxuries  and  many  of  their  necessities. 

So,  for  example,  the  Lords  Proprietors  of  Carolina,  in  their 

"Proposals  to  First  Settlers,"  in   1663,  offered  "to  the 

owner  of  every  negro  or  man  slave  brought  thither  to  settle 

within  the  first  year  20  acres  and  for  every  woman  negro 

or  slave  10  acres  of  land."  l  James  Oglethorpe,  founder  of 

the  neighboring  colony  of  Georgia,  was  opposed  to  slavery 

on  moral  grounds,  and  immediately  after  the  granting  of 

the  charter  of  Georgia  the  inhabitants  were  ordered  "  not 

to  hire,  keep,  lodge,  board,  or  employ  within  the  limits 

of  the  Province  any  Black  or  Negro."    Nevertheless  the 

1  Peter  Force,  Tracts,  Vol.  IV,  No.  2,  p.  25.  At  the  census  of  1790, 
Massachusetts  was  the  only  state  to  report  no  slaves.  The  list  of  slaves 
in  New  York  in  1755  (excluding  the  counties  of  Albany,  New  York,  and 
Suffolk)  fills  twenty-four  pages  of  O'Callaghan,  Documentary  History 
of  the  State  of  New  York,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  844-868. 

291 


292  Slavery  and  the  West 

economic  pressure  of  the  need  for  laborers  was  so  great 
that  five  years  later  the  following  petition  was  sent  to  the 
Trustees  of  the  colony  : 

MAY  IT  PLEASE  YOUR  HONOURS; 

We  whose  Names  are  under-written,  being  all  Settlers,  Free 
holders  and  Inhabitants  of  the  Province  of  Georgia,  and  being 
sensible  of  the  great  Pains  and  Care  exerted  by  You  in  En 
deavouring  to  settle  this  Colony,  since  it  has  been  under  Your 
Protection  and  Management ;  Do  unanimously  join  to  lay  before 
You,  with  the  utmost  Regret,  the  following  Particulars.  .  .  .  We 
have  most  of  us  settled  in  this  Colony  in  Pursuance  of  the  De 
scription  and  Recommendation  given  of  it  by  You  in  Britain ; 
and  from  the  Experience  of  residing  here  several  Years,  do  find 
that  it  is  impossible  that  the  Measures  hitherto  laid  down  and 
pursued  for  making  it  a  Colony  can  succeed.  None  of  all  those 
who  have  planted  their  Land  have  been  able  to  raise  Sufficient 
Produce  to  maintain  their  Families  in  Bread  kind  only,  even  tho' 
as  much  Application  and  Industry  have  been  exerted  to  bring 
it  about  as  could  be  done  by  Men  engaged  in  an  Affair  on  which 
they  believed  the  Welfare  of  themselves  and  their  Posterity  so 
much  depended ;  ...  so  that  by  the  accumulated  Expences  every 
Year,  of  Provisions,  Cloathing  and  Medicines,  for  themselves. 
Families  and  Servants,  several  hath  expended  all  their  Money, 
nay,  even  run  considerably  in  Debt,  and  so  been  obliged  to  leave 
off  Planting  and  making  further  Improvements.  .  .  .  This  being 
now  the.  general  State  of  the  Colony,  it  must  be  obvious  that 
People  cannot  subsist  by  their  Land,  according  to  the  present 
Establishment;  and  this  being  a  Truth  resulting  from  Tryal, 
Practice  and  Experience,  cannot  be  contradicted  by  any  theorical 
Scheme  or  Reasoning.  The  Land  then,  according  to  the  present 
Constitution,  not  being  capable  to  maintain  the  Settlers  here, 
they  must  unavoidably  have  recourse  to  and  depend  upon  Trade : 
But  to  our  wqful  Experience  likewise,  the  same  Causes  that 
prevented  \^  first,  obstruct  the  latter  \  for  tho'  the  Situation  of 
this  Place  is  exceeding  well  adapted  for  Trade,  and  if  it  was 
encouraged,  might  be  much  more  improved  by  the  Inhabitants; 
yet  the  Difficulties  and  Restrictions,  which  we  hitherto  have  and 


The  Gathering  Cloud  293 

at  present  do  labour  under,  debar  us  of  that  Advantage  :  Timber 
is  the  only  Thing  we  have  here  which  we  might  export,  and 
notwithstanding  we  are  obliged  to  fall  [fell]  it  in  Planting  our 
Land ;  yet  we  cannot  manufacture  it  for  a  Foreign  Market  but 
at  double  the  Expence  of  other  Colonies ;  as  for  Instance,  the 
River  of  May  [St.  Johns  River,  Florida],  which  is  but  twenty 
Miles  from  us,  with  the  Allowance  of  Negroes,  load  Vessels 
with  that  Commodity  at  one  Half  of  the  Price  that  we  can  do ; 
and  what  should  induce  Persons  to  bring  Ships  here,  when  they 
can  be  loaded  with  one  Half  the  Expence  so  near  us  ;  therefore 
the  Timber  on  the  Land  is  only  a  continual  Charge  to  the  Pos 
sessors  of  it,  tho'  of  very  great  Advantage  in  all  the  Northern 
Colonies,  where  Negroes  are  allowed,  and  consequently  Labour 
cheap.  We  do  not  in  the  least  doubt  but  that  in  Time  Silk  and 
Wine  may  be  produced  here,  especially  the  former ;  but  since 
the  Cultivation  of  Land  with  White  Servants  only,  cannot  raise 
Provisions  for  our  Families  as  before  mentioned,  therefore  it  is 
likewise  impossible  to  carry  on  these  Manufactures  according 
to  the  present  Constitution.  It  is  very  well  known,  that  Carolina 
can  raise  everything  that  this  Colony  can  ;  and  they  having  their 
Labour  so  much  cheaper  will  always  ruin  our  Market,  unless 
we  are  in  some  Measure  on  a  Footing  with  them.  .  .  . 

Your  Honours,  we  imagine,  are  not  insensible  of  the  Numbers 
that  have  left  this  Province,  not  being  able  to  support  them 
selves  and  Families  any  longer ;  and  those  still  remaining,  who 
had  Money  of  their  own  and  Credit  with  their  Friends,  have 
laid  out  most  of  the  former  in  Improvements,  and  lost  the  latter 
for  doing  it  on  such  precarious  Titles.  And  upon  Account  of 
the  present  Establishment,  not  above  two  or  three  Persons, 
except  those  brought  on  Charity  and  Servants  sent  by  You, 
have  come  here  for  the  Space  of  two  Years  past,  either  to  settle 
Land  or  encourage  Trade,  neither  do  we  hear  of  any  such  likely 
to  come  until  we  are  on  better  Terms.  .  .  . 

Believing  You  will  agree  to  those  Measures  that  are  found 
from  Experience  capable  to  make  this  Colony  succeed,  and  to 
promote  which  we  have  consumed  our  Money,  Time  and  Labour ; 
we  do,  from  a  sincere  Regard  to  its  Welfare,  and  in  Duty  both 
to  You  and  ourselves,  beg  Leave  to  lay  before  Your  immediate 


294  Slavery  and  the  West 

Consideration  the  Two  following  chief  Causes  of  these  QVX  present 
Misfortunes  and  this  deplorable  State  of  the  Colony,  and  which, 
we  are  certain,  if  granted,  would  be  an  infallible  Remedy  for  both. 

ist.  The  Want  of  a  free  Title,  or  Fee-simple  to  our  Lands 

2d.  The  Want  of  the  Use  of  Negroes,  with  proper  Limita 
tions  ;  which  if  granted,  would  both  occasion  great  Numbers  of 
White  People  to  come  here,  and  also  render  us  capable  to  sub 
sist  ourselves,  by  raising  Provisions  upon  our  Lands,  until  we 
could  make  some  Produce  fit  for  Export,  in  some  Measure  to 
Ballance  our  Importation.  We  are  very  sensible  of  the  Incon 
veniences  and  Mischiefs  that  have  already,  and  do  daily  arise 
from  an  unlimited  Use  of  Negroes  ;  but  we  are  also  sensible,  that 
these  may  be  prevented  by  a  due  Limitation,  such  as  so  many  to 
each  white  Man,  or  so  many  to  such  a  Quantity  of  Land,  or  in 
any  other  Manner  which  Your  Honours  shall  think  most  proper. 
By  granting  us,  Gentlemen,  these  Two  Particulars,  and  such 
other  Privileges  as  His  Majesty's  most  dutiful  Subjects  m  America 
enjoy,  You  will  not  only  prevent  our  impending  Ruin,  but,  we 
are  fully  satisfied,  also  will  soon  make  this  the  most  flourishing 
Colony  possess'd  by  His  Majesty  in  America,  and  Your  Mem 
ories  will  be  perpetuated  to  all  future  Ages,  our  latest  Posterity 
sounding  Your  Praises,  as  their  first  Founders,  Patrons,  and 
Guardians.  .  .  . 

We  are, 

with  all  due  Respect, 

Your  Honours  most  dutiful  and  obedient  Servants 
[signed  by  1 1 7  Freeholders] 

Savannah, 
9th  December,  1738 


72.  The  de-        "  I  went  up  to  the  Capitol,"  says  John  Quincy  Adams 

Missouri  *     ™  hi§  "  Memoirs,"  under  the  date  of  February  n,  1820, 

Compromise,   »  ancj  neard  Mr.  King  in  the  Senate,  upon  what  is  called 

*  the  Missouri  question.  .  .  .    His  manner  is  dignified,  grave, 

earnest,  but  not  rapid  or  vehement.  .  .  .   He  laid  down  the 


The  Gathering  Cloud  295 

position  of  the  natural  liberty  of  man,  and  its  incompati 
bility  with  slavery  in  any  shape.  .  .  .  He  spoke  with  great 
power,  and  the  great  slave-holders  in  the  House,  gnawed 
their  lips  and  clutched  their  fists  as  they  heard  him."  1 
The  debate  on  the  Missouri  Compromise  elicited  the  most 
determined  assertions  of  principle  and  provoked  the  most 
violent  bursts  of  passion  since  the  struggle  over  the  for 
mation  and  adoption  of  the  federal  Constitution.  King's 
famous  speech  and  the  reply  of  William  Pinkney  of  Mary 
land2  were  delivered  before  an  excited  audience  in  the 
Senate  chamber  at  the  height  of  the  struggle.  King  argued 
for  the  power  of  Congress  to  restrict  slavery  in  the  western 
territories,  and  hence  to  permit  them  to  enter  the  Union 
only  as  free  states. 

The  territory  of  Missouri  is  a  portion  of  Louisiana,  which 
was  purchased  of  France,  and  belongs  to  the  United  States  in 
full  dominion ;  in  the  language  of  the  Constitution,  Missouri  is 

1  J.  Q.  Adams,  Memoirs,  Vol.  IV,  p.  522.  Of  this  speech,  Rufus  King 
himself,  writing  to  J.  A.  King,  said  . .  .  "today  [I]  delivered  my  opinions 
to  the  Senate ;  with  what  effect  I  cannot  say,  but  if  I  satisfied  nobody 
else,  I  may  say  to  yoti,  that  I  satisfied  myself.   The  cause  is  desperate  in 
the  Senate,  and  my  object  was,  by  taking  a  bold  position,  and  defending 
it  with  some  vigor  and  much  confidence,  to  encourage  &  hold  up  others 
who  were  languid  &  discouraged.    I  shall  be  greatly  misrepresented,  but 
correct  in  my  principles  and  able  as  I  think  to  defend  them  and  protect 
myself,  this  little  warfare  will  give  me  no  concern.    Every  new  speech 
becomes  the  material  of  another,  and  the  end  and  issue  of  the  debate 
are  beyond  conjecture."  —  Life  and  Correspondence  of  Rufus  King, 
ed.  C.  R.  King,  Vol.  VI,  p.  269. 

2  In  his  Autobiography  (Vol.  I,  p.  60)  John  A.  Uix  says :  «  I  was  so 
fortunate  as  to  hear  the  two  speeches  which,  on  opposite  sides'  of  the 
[Missouri]  question,  were  considered  the  most  able  .  .  .  those  of  Mr. 
Pinkney  of  Maryland  against  the  prohibition,  and  Rufus  King  of  New 
York  in  favor  of  it.    It  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  a  greater  contrast 
than  in  the  oratory  of  the  two  Senators.   Mr.  King's  was  calm,  dignified, 
argumentative,  forcible  and  at  times  fervid.    Mr.  Pinkney's  was  impas 
sioned,  fiery  and  sometimes  bordering  on  violence,  but  sustained  through 
out  with  surpassing  logical  power." 


296  Slavery  and  the  West 

their  territory  or  property,  and  is  subject  like  other  territories 
of  the  United  States,  to  the  regulations  and  temporary  govern 
ment,  .which  has  been,  or  shall  be  prescribed  by  Congress.  The 
clause  of  the  Constitution  which  grants  this  power  to  Congress, 
is  so  comprehensive  and  unambiguous,  and  its  purpose  so  mani 
fest,  that  commentary  will  not  render  the  power,  or  the  object 
of  its  establishment,  more  explicit  or  plain. 

The  Constitution  further  provides  that  "  new  States  may  be 
admitted  by  Congress  into  this  Union."  As  this  power  is  con 
ferred  without  limitation,  the  time,  terms,  and  circumstances  of 
the  admission  of  new  States,  are  referred  to  the  discretion  of 
Congress ;  which  may  admit  new  States,  but  are  not  obliged 
to  do  so  —  of  right  no  new  State  can  demand  admission  into, 
the  Union,  unless  such  demand  be  founded  on  some  previous 
engagement  of  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

The  question  respecting  slavery  in  the  old  thirteen  States 
had  been  decided  and  settled  before  the  adoption  of  the  Con 
stitution,  which  grants  no  power  to  Congress  to  interfere  with, 
or  to  change  what  had  been  so  previously  settled.  The  slave 
States,  therefore,  are  free  to  continue  or  to  abolish  slavery.  .  .  . 
The  Constitution  contains  no  express  provision  respecting  slavery 
in  a  new  State  that  may  be  admitted  into  the  Union ;  every 
regulation  upon  this  subject  belongs  to  the  power  whose  con 
sent  is  necessary  to  the  formation  and  admission  of  new  States 
into  the  Union.  Congress  may,  therefore,  make  it  a  condition 
of  the  admission  of  a  new  State,  that  slavery  shall  be  forever 
prohibited  within  the  same.  .  .  . 

It  is  further  objected  that  the  article  of  the  act  of  admission 
into  the  Union,  by  which  slavery  should  be  excluded  from 
Missouri,  would  be  nugatory,  as  the  new  State  in  virtue  of  its 
sovereignty  would  be  at  liberty  to  revoke  its  consent,  and  annul 
the  article  by  which  slavery  is  excluded. 

Such  revocation  would  be  contrary  to  the  obligations  of  good 
faith,  which  enjoins  the  observance  of  our  engagements ;  it 
would  be  repugnant  to  the  principles  on  which  government 
itself  is  founded.  .  .  .  Sovereigns,  like  individuals,  are  bound 
by  their  engagements,  and  have  no  moral  power  to  break  them. 
Treaties  between  nations  repose  on  this  principle.  If  a  new 


The  Gathering  Cloud  297 

State  can  revoke  and  annul  an  article  concluded  between  itself 
and  the  United  States,  by  which  slavery  is  excluded  from  it,  it 
may  revoke  and  annul  any  other  article  of  the  compact ;  it  may, 
for  example,  annul  the  article  respecting  public  lands,  and  in 
virtue  of  its  sovereignty,  assume  the  right  to  tax  and  to  sell 
the  lands  of  the  United  States.  There  is  yet  a  more  satisfactory 
answer  to  this  objection.  The  judicial  power  of  the  United 
States  is  coextensive  with  their  legislative  power.  .  .  .  Should 
the  new  State  rescind  any  of  the  articles  of  compact  contained 
in  the  act  of  admission  into  the  Union  .  .  .  and  should  [it]  pass 
a  law  authorizing  slavery  the  judiciary  of  the  United  States  on 
proper  application,  would  immediately  deliver  from  bondage, 
any  person  retained  as  a  slave  in  said  State.  .  .  . 

If  Congress  possess  the  power  to  exclude  slavery  from  Mis 
souri,  it  still  remains  to  be  shown  that  they  ought  to  do  so. 
The  examination  of  this  branch  of  the  subject,  for  obvious 
reasons,  is  attended  with  peculiar  difficulty,  and  cannot  be 
made  without  passing  over  arguments  which,  to  some  of  us, 
might  appear  to  be  decisive,  but  the  use  of  which,  in  this  place, 
would  call  up  feelings,  the  influence  of  which  would  disturb,  if 
not  defeat,  the  impartial  consideration  of  the  subject.  Slavery, 
unhappily,  exists  within  the  United  States.  Enlightened  men, 
in  the  States  where  it  is  permitted,  and  everywhere  out  of  them, 
regret  its  existence  among  us,  and  seek  for  the  means  of  limit 
ing  and  of  mitigating  it.  ...  The  laws  and  customs  of  the 
States  in  which  slavery  has  existed  for  so  long  a  period,  must 
have  had  their  influence  on  the  opinions  and  habits  of  the  citi 
zens,  which  ought  not  to  be  disregarded  on  the  present 
occasion.1  .  .  . 

1  How  little  regard  the  "  leaders  of  federalism  "  (chief  among  whom 
at  this  time  was  King  himself)  had  in  the  eyes  of  Southerners  for  the 
peculiar  difficulty  of  the  slavery  question  is  shown  by  Jefferson's  com 
plaint  in  a  letter  to  Charles  Pinckney,  September  30,  1820 :  "  They  are 
wasting  Jeremiads  on  the  miseries  of  slavery,  as  if  we  were  advocates 
for  it.  Sincerity  in  their  declamations  should  direct  their  efforts  to  the 
true  point  of  difficulty,  and  unite  their  counsels  with  ours  in  devising 
some  reasonable  and  practicable  plan  of  getting  rid  of  it."  —  Writ 
ings  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  ed.  P.  L.  Ford,  Vol.  X,  p.  162.  Perhaps  the 
sagest  reflections  on  the  Missouri  struggle  are  those  expressed  by 


298  Slavery  and  the  West 

The  territory  of  Missouri  is  beyond  our  ancient  limits,  and 
the  inquiry  whether  slavery  shall  exist  there,  is  open  to  many 
of  the  arguments  that  might  be  employed,  had  slavery  never 
existed  within  the  United  States.  It  is  a  question  of  no  ordinary 
importance.  Freedom  and  slavery  are  the  parties  which  stand 
this  day  before  the  Senate ;  and  upon  its  decision  the  empire 
of  the  one  or  the  other  will  be  established  in  the  new  State 
which  we  are  about  to  admit  into  the  Union. 

If  slavery  be  permitted  in  Missouri  .  .  .  what  hope  can  be 
entertained  that  it  will  ever  be  prohibited  in  any  of  the  new 
States  that  will  be  formed  in  the  immense  region  west  of  the 
Mississippi  ?  Will  the  coextensive  establishment  of  slavery  and 
of  new  States  throughout  this  region,  lessen  the  dangers  of 
domestic  insurrection,  or  of  foreign  aggression  ?  Will  this 
manner  of  executing  the  great  trust  of  admitting  new  States 
into  the  Union,  contribute  to  assimilate  our  manners  and  usages, 
to  increase  our  mutual  affection  and  confidence,  and  to  establish 
that  equality  of  benefits  and  burdens  which  constitutes  the  true 
basis  of  our  strength  and  union  ?  Will  the  militia  of  the  nation, 
which  must  furnish  our  soldiers  and  seamen,  increase  as  slaves 
increase  ?  .  .  .  There  are  limits  within  which  our  federal  system 
must  stop;  no  one  has  supposed  that  it  could  be  indefinitely 
extended.  We  are  now  about  to  pass  our  original  boundary; 
if  this  can  be  done  without  affecting  the  principles  of  our  free 
governments,  it  can  be  accomplished  only  by  the  most  vigilant 

Hezekiah  Niles  of  Baltimore,  in  his  Register  of  weekly  events,  Decem 
ber  23,  1820 :  "  The  people  of  those  sections  of  the  country  in  which 
there  are  few  or  no  slaves  or  persons  of  color,  very  imperfectly  appre 
ciate  the  wants,  necessities  or  general  principles  of  others  differently 
situated  [that  is,  slave-holders].  Collectively  the  latter  deprecate  slavery 
as  severely  as  the  former,  and  dread  its  increase  —  but  individual  cupidity 
and  rashness  acts  against  the  common  sentiment,  in  the  hope  that  an 
event  which  everybody  believes  must  happen,  may  not  happen  in  their 
day.  .  .  .  That  the  slave  population  will,  at  some  certain  period,  cause 
the  most  horrible  catastrophe,  cannot  be  doubted  —  those  who  possess 
them  [slaves]  act  defensively  in  behalf  of  all  that  is  nearest  and  dearest 
to  them,  when  they  endeavor  to  acquire  all  the  strength  and  influence 
to  meet  that  period  which  they  can ;  and  hence  the  political  and  civil 
opposition  of  these  to  the  restriction  which  was  proposed  to  be  laid  on 
Missouri."— H.  Niles,  The  Weekly  Register,  Vol.  XIX,  p.  265. 


The  Gathering  Cloud  299 

attention  to  plant,  cherish,  and  sustain  the  principles  of  liberty 
in  the  new  States  that  may  be  formed  beyond  our  ancient 
limits.  ... 

Four  days  later  William  Pinkney  of  Maryland  delivered 
a  speech  of  three  hours'  length  in  reply  to  King : 

Sir,  it  was  but  the  other  day  that  we  were  forbidden  (properly 
forbidden,  I  am  sure,  for  the  prohibition  came  from  you)  to 
assume  that  there  existed  any  intention  to  impose  a  prospective 
restraint  on  the  domestic  legislation  of  Missouri.  .  .  .  We  are 
now,  however,  permitted  to  know  that  it  is  determined  by  a 
sort  of  political  surgery  to  amputate  one  of  the  limbs  of  its 
local  sovereignty,  and  thus  mangled  and  disparaged,  and  thus 
only,  to  receive  it  into  the  bosom  of  the  Constitution.  It  is  now 
avowed  that  while  Maine  is  to  be  ushered  into  the  Union  with 
every  possible  demonstration  of  studious  reverence  on  our  part 
.  .  .  this  ill-conditioned  upstart  of  the  West,  this  obscure  found 
ling  of  the  wilderness,  that  was  but  yesterday  the  hunting  ground 
of  the  savage,  is  to  find  her  way  into  the  American  family  as 
she  can,  with  a  humiliating  badge  of  remediless  inferiority 
patched  upon  her  garments,  .  .  .  with  a  brand  upon  her  fore 
head  to  tell  the  story  of  her  territorial  vassalage,  and  to  per 
petuate  the  memory  of  her  evil  propensities,  .  .  .  with  the  iron 
collar  of  servitude  about  her  neck,  instead  of  the  civic  crown 
of  republican  freedom  upon  her  brows.  .  .  . 

I  am  told  that  you  have  the  power  to  establish  this  odious 
and  revolting  distinction,  and  I  am  referred  for  the  proofs  of 
that  power  to  various  parts  of  the  Constitution.  .  .  .  The  clause 
of  the  Constitution  which  relates  to  the  admission  of  new  States 
is  in  these  words :  "  The  Congress  may  admit  new  States  into 
this  Union  "  &c,  and  the  advocates  for  restriction  maintain  that 
the  use  of  the  word  may  imports  discretion  to  admit  or  reject; 
and  that  in  this  discretion  is  wrapped  up  another  —  that  of  pre 
scribing  the  terms  and  conditions  of  admission  in  case  you  are 
willing  to  admit.  Cuius  est  dare  eius  est  disponere?-  .  .  . 

1  "  He  who  has  the  power  to  grant  has  also  the  power  to  make  the 
terms  of  the  grant." 


3OO  Slavery  and  the  West 

I  think  I  may  assume  that  if  such  a  power  be  anything  but 
nominal,  it  is  much  more  than  adequate  to  the  present  object ; 
that  it  is  a  power  of  vast  expansion,  to  which  human  sagacity 
can  assign  no  reasonable  limits ;  that  it  is  a  capacious  reservoir 
of  authority,  from  which  you  may  take,  in  all  time  to  come,  as 
occasion  may  serve,  the  means  of  oppression  as  well  as  of  bene 
faction.  .  .  .  Sir,  it  is  a  wilderness  of  powers,  of  which  fancy,  in 
her  happiest  mood,  is  unable  to  perceive  the  far-distant  and 
shadowy  boundary.  ...  By  the  aid  of  such  a  power,  skilfully 
employed,  you  may  "  bridge  your  way  "  over  the  Hellespont  that 
separates  State  legislation  from  that  of  Congress ;  and  you  may 
do  so  for  pretty  much  the  same  purpose  with  which  Xerxes 
once  bridged  his  way  across  the  Hellespont  that  separates  Asia 
from  Europe.  He  did  so,  in  the  language  of  Milton,  "  the  liber 
ties  of  Greece  to  yoke."  You  may  do  so  for  the  analogous  pur 
pose  of  subjugating  and  reducing  the  sovereignties  of  States,  as 
your  taste  or  convenience  may  suggest,  and  fashioning  them  to 
your  imperial  will.  .  .  . 

"  New  States  may  be  admitted  by  Congress  into  this  Union." 
What  is  that  Union  ?  A  confederation  of  States  equal  in  sov 
ereignty,  capable  of  everything  which  the  Constitution  does  not 
forbid  or  authorize  Congress  to  forbid.  ...  By  acceding  to  it, 
the  new  State  is  placed  on  the  same  footing  with  the  original 
States.  It  accedes  for  the  same  purpose,  that  is,  protection  of 
its  unsurrendered  sovereignty.  If  it  comes  in  shorn  of  its  beams 
—  crippled  and  disparaged  beyond  the  original  States,  it  is  not 
into  the  original  Union  that  it  comes.  For  it  is  a  different  sort 
of  Union.  The  first  Union  was  inter  pares ;  this  is  a  Union  be 
tween  disparates,  between  giants  and  a  dwarf,  between  power 
and  feebleness,  between  full  proportioned  sovereignties  and  a 
miserable  image  of  power.  .  .  .  You  cannot  make  the  Union,  as 
to  the  new  State,  what  it  is  not  as  to  the  old ;  for  then  it  is  not 
this  Union  that  you  open  for  entrance  of  a  new  party.  .  .  . 

If  I  am  told  that,  by  the  bill  relative  to  Missouri,  you  do 
not  legislate  upon  a  new  State,  I  answer  that  you  do.  .  .  . 
You  legislate  in  the  shape  of  terms  and  conditions  prospec- 
tively;  and  you  so  legislate  upon  it  that  when  it  comes  into  the 
Union  it  is  bound  by  a  contract  degrading  and  diminishing  its 


The  Gathering  Cloud  301 

sovereignty.  ...  Is  the  right  to  hold  slaves  a  right  which  Massa 
chusetts  enjoys  ?  If  it  is,  Massachusetts  is  under  this  Union 
in  a  different  character  from  Missouri.  The  compact  of  the 
union  for  it  is  different  from  the  same  compact  of  union  for 
Missouri.  ...  To  admit  or  not  is  for  you  to  decide.  Admission 
once  conceded,  it  follows  as  a  corollary  that  you  must  take  the 
new  State  as  an  equal  companion  with  its  fellows.  .  .  . 


THE  ABOLITIONISTS 

While  statesmen  were  arguing  in  Congress  on  the  right  73.  A  report 
of  the  central  government  to  restrict  the  spread  of  slavery,    *£*£       na' 
and  abolitionists  were  clamoring  for  immediate  and  uncom-        [3551 
pensated  emancipation,  a  practical,  but,  as  it  proved,  pitiably 
inadequate,  attempt  was  being  made  to  relieve  the  situation  in 
the  South  by  the  transportation  of  free  negroes  and  manu 
mitted  slaves  to  the  colony  of  Liberia  on  the  western  coast 
of  Africa.    Following  a  suggestion  made  as  early  as  1781 
by  Thomas  Jefferson,1  and  repeatedly  endorsed  by  state 

1  In  his  Notes  on  Virginia  (ed.  1787,  pp.  228-229),  Jefferson  out 
lines  some  desirable  changes  in  the  Constitution  of  the  State,  among 
which  are  the  following :  "  To  emancipate  all  slaves  born  after  passing  the 
act  .  .  .  and  further  directing  that  they  should  continue  with  their  par 
ents  to  a  certain  age,  then  be  brought  up,  at  the  public  expence,  to  till 
age,  arts,  or  sciences,  according  to  their  geniusses,  till  the  females 
should  be  eighteen,  and  the  males  twenty-one  years  of  age,  when  they 
should  be  colonized  to  such  place  as  the  circumstances  of  the  time  should 
render  most  proper,  sending  them  out  with  arms,  implements  of  house 
hold,  and  of  the  handicraft  arts,  seeds,  pairs  of  the  useful  domestic 
animals,  &c.,  to  declare  them  a  free  and  independant  people,  and  to 
extend  to  them  our  alliance  and  protection,  till  they  shall  have  acquired 
strength.  ...  It  will  probably  be  asked,  Why  not  retain  and  incorporate 
the  blacks  into  the  State  ?  .  .  .  Deep  rooted  prejudices  entertained  by 
the  whites ;  ten  thousand  recollections,  by  the  blacks,  of  the  injuries 
they  have  sustained ;  new  provocations ;  the  real  distinctions  which 
nature  has  made  ;  and  many  other  circumstances,  will  divide  us  into 
parties,  and  produce  convulsions  which  will  probably  never  end  but  in. 
the  extermination  of  the  one  or  the  other  race." 


302  Slavery  and  the  West 

legislatures  both  North  and  South,  the  American  Coloniza 
tion  Society  was  formed  at  Washington,  early  in  1817; 
and  on  March  3,  1819,  President  Monroe  signed  a  bill 
which  authorized  him  "  to  make  such  regulations  and  ar 
rangements  as  he  may  deem  expedient  for  the  safe-keeping, 
support,  and  removal  beyond  the  limits  of  the  United 
States,  of  all  such  negroes,  mulattoes,  or  persons  of  color 
as  may  be  delivered  and  brought  within  their  jurisdiction;1 
and  to  appoint  a  proper  person  or  persons  residing  on  the 
coast  of  Africa  as  agent  or  agents  for  receiving  the  negroes. 
.  .  ."  An  appropriation  of  $100,000  was  made  for  carry 
ing  out  the  act  of  Congress.  With  the  aid  of  the  Coloni 
zation  Society,  the  ship  Elisabeth  was  chartered  and  a 
company  of  eighty-six  negroes  from  various  states  embarked 
for  Africa  in  the  brave  attempt  to  turn  the  tide  of  negro 
migration,  which  for  two  hundred  years  had  flowed  to  the 
shores  of  the  western  world.  The  Elisabeth  sailed  from 
New  York  harbor  on  the  6th  of  February,  1820,  five  days 
before  John  Quincy  Adams  "  went  up  to  the  Capitol  and 
heard  Mr.  King"  on  the  Missouri  question.  After  two  dis 
couraging  years  of  danger  and  disease,  which  read  like  the 
early  history  of  Jamestown  or  Plymouth,  the  little  colony 
was  established.  As  a  political  experiment  of  self-govern 
ment  among  a  small  population  of  picked  negroes  the 

1  This  refers  to  "  recaptured  Africans,"  or  negroes  confiscated  by 
the  government  for  being  illegally  landed  at  Southern  ports.  The  act 
of  1807  had  imposed  fines  of  $20,000  for  equipping  a  slave  vessel,  $5000 
for  transporting  negroes  to  the  United  States  to  be  sold  as  slaves,  and 
$800  for  purchasing  any  such  negro  as  a  slave.  Still  many  slaves  were 
imported,  and  often  sold  under  conditions  making  it  profitable  for  the 
owner  to  have  landed  them  and  paid  the  fine.  The  student  will  gain 
some  idea  of  why  the  Southerner  was  willing  to  support  almost  any 
scheme  for  the  removal  of  the  free  negroes,  by  reading  the  exciting 
story  of  Denmark  Vesey  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  Vol.  VII,  pp.  728-744. 


The  Gathering  Cloud  303 

Republic  of  Liberia  has  considerable  interest;  but  its  influ 
ence  on  the  slavery  problem  or  the  race  question  in  the 
South  has  been  imperceptible.  Dr.  Richard  Randall,  agent 
of  the  Society,  submitted  the  following  report : 

Monrovia,1  Dec.  28,  1828 

To  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  American  Colonization 
Society,  Washington  City. 

GENTLEMEN  : 

...  I  am  much  pleased  with  the  climate,  location,  fertility, 
and  population  of  Liberia.  The  climate  is  at  this  season  most 
delightful.  It  is  not  very  warm  during  the  day,  and  at  night  it 
is  cool  enough  to  sleep  with  comfort  under  a  blanket.  Though 
this  is  considered  the  sickly  season,  we  have  but  little  disease, 
and  none  of  an  alarming  character.  ...  I  consider  the  town  of 
Monrovia  quite  as  healthy  as  any  of  our  southern  cities.  .  .  . 

The  location  of  Monrovia  is  the  most  delightful  that  can  be 
imagined.  Since  the  woods  have  been  cleared  away  on  the  south 
side  of  the  peninsula,  our  town  is  in  full  view  from  the  ocean, 
and  has  really  a  most  imposing  appearance.  .  .  .  Whatever  be 
the  final  success  of  our  colonizing  operations,  nothing  but  sortie 
most  unfortunate  disaster  can  prevent  this  becoming  one  of  the 
most  important  commercial  cities  on  the  African  coast. . . .  Most 
of  the  settlers  have  good  houses,  and  all  of  them  have  flourishing 
plantations  of  rice,  cassaba,  plantains,  and  potatoes,  with  many 
other  fruits  and  vegetables.  .  .  .  The  lands  on  both  sides  of 
Stocton  Creek  are  of  the  very  best  quality ;  being  a  rich,  light 
alluvion,  equal  in  every  respect  to  the  best  lands  on  the  southern 
rivers  of  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

If  I  had  under  my  direction  an  armed  vessel,  with  40  men, 
principally  black  sailors  from  the  United  States,  I  could  pledge 
myself  that  the  slave-trade  should  not  be  carried  on  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  this  Colony.  From  all  I  can  learn  here,  I  am  induced 

1  The  names  of  Liberia  ("  free  state  ")  and  its  capital  Monrovia  (after 
President  Monroe)  were  both  suggested  by  Robert  Harper  of  Maryland, 
an  enthusiastic  supporter  of  the  Colonization  Society,  in  1824.  After 
the  Civil  War  broke  out,  the  United  States  recognized  the  Republic  of 
Liberia  (1862). 


304  Slavery  and  the  West 

to  believe  that  the  slave-trade  is  now  carried  on  ...  to  a  greater 
extent  than  it  has  been  for  many  years.  .  .  .  The  slavers  are 
generally  fitted  out  in  the  island  of  Cuba,  or  Brazil,  and  land 
their  cargoes,  and  establish  factories  [headquarters]  for  the  col 
lection  of  slaves,  at  some  convenient  spot,  whilst  the  vessels 
cruise  off  and  on  with  perfect  impunity  from  the  English,  French, 
and  other  cruizers,  who  cannot  capture  them,  unless  they  have 
the  slaves  actually  on  board ;  and  as  soon  as  the  coast  is  clear, 
and  while  the  wind  is  fair,  they  get  their  slaves  on  board,  and 
being  generally  fast  sailers,  they  defy  all  pursuers.  .  .  . 

The  Colonists,  I  find,  are  much  alarmed  at  the  idea  of  incens 
ing  these  people,  who  are  so  powerful,  lest  they  should  injure 
them  by  cutting  up  their  commerce  on  this  coast.  It  will  be 
recollected  by  the  Society,  that  there  has  been  no  American 
vessel  cruising  on  this  coast  for  many  years.  The  Ontario  stopped 
here  a  short  time  last  year,  and  the  Shark,  which  is  now  here, 
is  only  authorized  to  delay  for  the  reception  of  my  despatches 
to  the  Navy  Department.  I  hope  the  Board  will  urge  upon  the 
Government  the  necessity  of  keeping  a  vessel  on  this  coast.  I 
will  pledge  my  medical  reputation,  that  it  can  be  done  with  but 
little  risk  from  disease,  if  proper  precautions  are  used.  .  .  .  The 
activity  of  our  squadron  during  the  last  two  or  three  years  has 
driven  the  pirates  entirely  from  the  West  Indies,  and  the  Gulph 
of  Mexico,  and  we  have  every  reason  to  believe,  that  the  same 
set  are  now  engaged  on  this  coast  in  the  double  capacity  of 
pirates  and  slavers.  ...  , 

The  trade  of  this  place  is  now  very  considerable,  and  is  becom 
ing  greater  every  day.  .  .  .  Besides  six  or  eight  smaller  decked 
vessels,  we  now  have  belonging  to  the  Colony  two  large  schooners, 
the  one  above  30,  the  other  above  40  tons,  employed  in  the  coast 
ing  trade.  I  have  enclosed  certified  statements  of  the  exports 
from  this  place  during  the  year  1828,  by  two  of  our  principal 
commission  merchants.  I  have  not  yet  been  able  to  get  state 
ments  from  the  others,  but  presume  that  the  whole  may  be 
estimated  at  60  or  $70,000.  .  .  . 

Emigrants  from  the  Southern  States  should  arrive  at  Liberia 
in  November,  December,  or  January ;  so  as  to  have  the  whole 
of  the  dry  season  to  build  their  houses,  clear  their  lands,  and 


The  Gathering  Cloud  305 

plant  their  crops,  by  the  commencement  of  the  rainy  season. 
From  the  North,  they  should  leave  the  United  States  early  in 
the  summer,  so  as  to  have  several  months  of  the  cool  season  to 
get  accustomed  to  the  climate.  Mechanics  should  bring  the  im 
plements  of  their  trades,  and  those  who  are  to  farm  should  have 
axes,  hatchets,  hoes,  spades,  and  short  strong  cutlasses,  to  cut 
away  the  bushes.  All  should  have  a  supply  of  clothing,  for  at 
least  two  years,  and  a  few  small,  light  cooking  utensils.  No  family 
to  be  sent  out  without  having  a  good  proportion  of  strong  young 
men  and  women.  .  .  .  Mechanics,  such  as  carpenters,  masons, 
shoe-makers,  and  boat-builders,  are  much  in  demand.  A  half- 
dozen  of  the  latter  could  get  constant  employment  and  good 
wages.  Men  or  women  who  can  give  instruction  in  reading  and 
writing  will  be  invaluable.  .  .  . 

I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

Gentlemen,  respectfully 

Your  Ob't  Servant, 
Richard  Randall,  Colonial  Agent 

The  following  extracts  are  chosen  out  of  a  great  number  74.  The 
of  statutes,  resolutions,  petitions,  and  controversies  which  institutio 
fill  the  fateful  decade  opened  by  the  debates  on  the  Missouri       [259] 
Compromise,  to  illustrate  how  suddenly  and  seriously  the 
South  realized  the  import  of  the  interference  of  the  national 
government  with  slavery,  and  recoiled  from  the  touch  of 
"  Northern  meddlers "   (abolitionists,  restrictionists,  colo 
nizers)  on  what  she  was  willing  herself  to  confess  was  a 
social  sore  in  her  body  —  the  "peculiar  institution"  of 
slavery.1  "  Practically  every  one  in  the  South,"  says  Profes 
sor  Callender,  "  was  impressed  by  the  dangers  that  would 
arise  from  liberating  the  slaves  and  leaving  them  as  a  part 
of  Southern  society. . . .  This  fact  was  not  sufficient  to  make 
all  Southerners  pro-slavery,  in  the  sense  that  they  regarded 

1  The  student  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  irritation  between  North 
and  South  was  still  further  aggravated  in  the  decade  1820-30  by  the 
bitter  tariff  controversy.  See  above,  No.  66,  especially  p.  261,  note. 


306  Slavery  and  the  West 

slavery  as  a  good  in  itself ;  .  .  .  but  it  was  quite  sufficient 
to  make  them  anti-abolition,  and  to  keep  them  so  for  an 
indefinite  period."  : 

w 

FROM  A  MESSAGE  OF  GOVERNOR  J.  L.  WILSON  TO  THE 
LEGISLATURE  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA,  DECEMBER  1,  1824 

.  .  .  There  should  be  a  spirit  of  concert  and  of  action  among 
the  slave-holding  states,  and  a  determined  resistance  to  any  vio 
lation  of  their  Ipcal  institutions.  The  crisis  seems  to  have  arrived 
when  we  are  called  upon  to  protect  ourselves.  The  president 
of  the  United  States  and  his  law  adviser,  so  far  from  resisting 
the  efforts  of  a  foreign  ministry,  appear  to  be  disposed,  by  an 
argument  drawn  from  the  overwhelming  powers  of  the  general 
government,  to  make  us  the  passive  instruments  of  a  policy,  at 
war,  not  only  with  our  interests,  but  destructive  also  of  our 
national  existence.2  The  evils  of  slavery  have  been  visited  upon 
us  by  the  cupidity  of  those  who  are  now  the  champions  of  uni 
versal  emancipation.3  A  firm  determination  to  resist,  at  the 
threshold,  every  invasion  of  our  domestic  tranquillity,  and  to 
preserve  our  sovereignty  and  independence  as  a  state,  is  earnestly 
recommended ;  and  if  an  appeal  to  the  first  principles  of  the  right 
of  self-government  be  disregarded,  and  reason  be  successfully 
combatted  by  sophistry  and  error,  there  would  be  more  glory  in 
forming  a  rampart  with  our  bodies  on  the  confines  of  our  territory, 
'than  to  be  the  victims  of  a  successful  [slave]  rebellion,  or  the 
slaves  of  a  great  consolidated  government. 

1  G.  S.  Callender,  Selections  from  the  Economic  History  of  the  United 
States,  1765-1860,  p.  739. 

2  This  sentence  refers  to  a  controversy  over  an  act  passed  by  South 
Carolina  early  in  1823,  authorizing  the  seizure  and  imprisonment  of  free 
negroes  brought  into  the  ports  of  the  state  as  a  part  of  the  crew  of  any 
foreign  vessel.    Stratford  Canning,  the  British  Minister  at  Washington, 
protested,  and   Attorney-General  Wirt  handed   Secretary  Adams  his 
opinion  that  the  act  of  South  Carolina,  infringing  the  right  of  Congress 
to  "  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,"  was  void.   The  documents 
are  in  Niles*  Register,  Vol.  XXVII,  pp.  261-264. 

3  Referring  to  the  interests  of  the  New  England  merchants  and  rum- 
distillers  in  the  slave  trade  in  colonial  times. 


The  Gathering'  Cloud  307 


FROM  A  MESSAGE  OF  GOVERNOR  TROUP  TO  THE 
LEGISLATURE  OF  GEORGIA,  MAY  23,  1825 

Since  your  last  meeting,  our  feelings  have  been  again  out 
raged  by  officious  and  impertinent  intermeddlings  with  our 
domestic  concerns.1  .  .  .  Soon,  very  soon,  therefore,  the  United 
States  Government,  discarding  the  mask,  will  openly  lend  itself 
to  a,  combination  of  fanatics  for  the  destruction  of  everything 
valuable  in  the  Southern  country  ;  one  movement  of  the  Con 
gress  unresisted  by  you,  and  all  is  lost.  Temporize  no  longer  - 
make  known  your  resolution  that  this  subject  [slavery]  shall 
not  be  touched  by  them,  but  at  their  peril  ;  but  for  its  sacred 
guaranty  by  the  Constitution,  we  never  would  have  become  par 
ties  to  that  instrument.  ...  If  this  matter  [slavery]  be  an  evil, 
it  is  our  own  —  if  it  be  a  sin,  we  can  implore  the  forgiveness  of 
it  —  to  remove  it  we  ask  not  even  their  sympathy  or  assistance. 
...  I  entreat  you,  therefore,  most  earnestly,  now  that  it  is  not 
too  late,  to  step  forth,  and  having  exhausted  the  argument,  to 
stand  by  your  arms. 

w 

RESOLUTION  OF  THE  LEGISLATURE  OF  GEORGIA, 
DECEMBER  28,  1827 

.  .  .  Your  committee  cannot  avoid  reprobating  the  cold 
blooded  selfishness,  or  unthinking  zeal,  which  actuates  many  of 
our  fellow-citizens  in  other  states,  to  an  interference  with  our 
local  concerns  and  domestic  relations,  totally  unwarranted  either 
by  humanity  or  by  constitutional  right.  Such  interference  is 
becoming  every  day  more  determined  and  more  alarming.  It 
commenced  with  a  few  unthinking  zealots,  who  formed  them 
selves  into  abolition  societies  ;  was  seized  upon  by  more  cunning 
and  designing  men  for  political  purposes  ;  and  is  now  supported 

1  Referring  to  a  bill  proposed  in  the  Senate,  February  18,  1825,  by 
Rufus  King,  for  the  application  of  funds  received  from  the  sale  of  pub 
lic  lands  to  the  purchase  of  slaves  from  their  masters  and  their  coloni 
zation,  along  with  free  negroes,  in  the  settlement  of  Liberia. 


308  Slavery  and  the  West 

by  more  than  one  of  the  States.  .  .  .  The  result  of  such  inter 
ference,  if  persevered  in,  is  awful  and  inevitable.  The  people 
£>f  Georgia  know  and  feel  strongly  the  advantages  of  the  federal 
Union.  As  members  of  that  Union  they  are  proud  of  its  great 
ness —  as  children  born  under  that  Union,  they  love  it  with 
filial  affection  —  as  parties  of  that  Union,  they  will  ever  defend 
it  from  foes,  internal  or  external ;  but  they  cannot  and  will  not, 
even  for  the  preservation  of  that  Union,  permit  their  rights  to 
be  assailed  —  they  will  not  permit  their  property  to  be  rendered 
worthless  —  they  will  not  permit  their  country  to  be  made  waste 
and  desolate,  "  by  those  who  come  among  us  under  the  cloak 
of  a  time-serving  and  hypocritical  benevolence."  . .  .  How,  then, 
is  this  evil  to  be  remedied  ?  Only  by  a  firm  and  determined 
union  of  the  people  and  the  States  of  the  South,  declaring 
through  their  legislative  bodies,  in  a  voice  which  must  be  heard, 
that  they  are  ready  and  willing  to  make  any  sacrifice  rather 
than  submit  longer  to  such  ruinous  interference ;  and  warning 
their  enemies  that  they  are  unwittingly  preparing  a  mine,  which 
once  exploded,  will  lay  our  much-loved  country  in  one  common 
ruin.  Your  committee  hope  that  such  a  calamity  is  yet  far 
distant,  and  that  there  is  still  remaining  in  the  Congress  of 
the  Union  sufficient  discretion,  intelligence,  and  patriotism  to 
avert  it  altogether.  With  that  hope,  they  deem  it  unnecessary 
now  to  do  more  than  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  following 
resolutions : 

Resolved,  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
State  of  Georgia,  in  General  Assembly  met,  That  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States  have  no  constitutional  power  to  appropriate  moneys 
to  aid  the  American  Colonization  Society,  or  for  objects  to  effect 
which  that  Society  was  established.1  .  .  . 

1  Nothing  could  show  more  strikingly  the  progress  of  the  spirit  of  ap 
prehension  in  the  South  in  the  decade  following  the  Missouri  Compro 
mise  than  the  comparison  of  this  resolution  with  the  commendation, 
ten  years  earlier,  of  the  objects  of  the  American  Colonization  Society,  in 
an  editorial  in  the  influential  Georgia  Journal  (January  i,  1817) :  "If  the 
Government  [of  the  United  States]  will  find  means  of  conveying  out  of 
the  country  such  slaves  as  may  be  emancipated,"  it  concludes,  "  and 
would  likewise  purchase  annually  a  certain  number  .  .  .  for  transporta 
tion,  it  is  believed  our  black  population  would  soon  become  harmless, 


The  Gathering  Cloud  309 


RESOLUTION  OF  THE  LEGISLATURE  OF 
SOUTH  CAROLINA 

.  .  .  Should  Congress  claim  the  power  to  discuss  and  take  a 
vote  upon  any  question  connected  with  domestic  slavery  of  the 
Southern  States,  it  is  not  for  your  committee  to  prescribe  what 
course  ought  to  be  adopted  to  counteract  the  evil  and  danger 
ous  tendency  of  public  discussions  of  this  nature.  The  minds  of 
our  citizens  are  already  made  up  that  if  such  discussion  apper 
tain  as  a  matter  of  right  to  Congress,  it  will  be  neither  more  nor 
less  than  the  commencement  of  a  system  by  which  the  peculiar 
policy  of  South  Carolina,  upon  which  is  predicated  her  resources 
and  her  prosperity,  will  be  shaken  to  its  very  foundation.  In  the 
opinion  of  your  committee,  there  is  nothing  in  the  catalogue  of 
human  ills  which  may  not  be  preferred  to  that  state  of  affairs  in 
which  the  slaves  of  our  state  shall  be  encouraged  to  look  for  any 
melioration  of  their  condition  to  any  other  body  than  the  Legis 
lature  of  South  Carolina.  Your  committee  forbear  to  dwell  on 
this  subject.  It  is  a  subject  on  which  no  subject  of  South  Carolina 
needs  instruction.  One  common  feeling  inspires  us  all  with  a  firm 
determination  not  to  submit  to  a  species  of  legislation  which 
would  light  up  such  fires  of  intestine  commotion  in  our  borders 
as  ultimately  to  consume  our  country. 

The  distinguished  French  scholar  and  statesman  Alexis 
de  Tocqueville,  who  visited  America  in  1831,  wrote  sym 
pathetically  of  the  dilemma  with  which  the  South  Relieved 
itself  to  be  face  to  face  —  namely,  the  maintenance  of 
slavery  or  the  ruin  of  society. 

I  am  obliged  to  confess  that  I  do  not  regard  the  abolition  of 
slavery  as  a  means  of  warding  off  the  struggle  of  the  two  races 

if  not  extinct.  To  the  importance  of  such  an  object,  the  expense  will 
bear  no  comparison  ;  and  a  more  favorable  period  than  the  present  for 
its  accomplishment  can  scarcely  be  expected."  —  A  Documentary  His 
tory  of  American  Industrial  Society,  Vol.  II,  ed.  U.  B.  Phillips,  p.  158 


3 1 0  Slavery  and  the  West 

in  the  Southern  States.  The  Negroes  may  long  remain  slaves 
without  complaining ;  but  if  they  are  once  raised  to  the  level  of 
freemen,  they  will  soon  revolt  at  being  deprived  of  almost  all 
their  civil  rights ;  and,  as  they  cannot  become  the  equals  of  the 
whites,  they  will  speedily  show  themselves  as  enemies.  In  the 
North,  everything  facilitated  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves ; 
and  slavery  was  abolished  without  rendering  the  free  Negroes 
formidable,  since  their  number  was  too  small  for  them  ever  to 
claim  their  rights.  But  such  is  not  the  case  in  the  South.  The 
question  of  slavery  was  a  commercial  and  manufacturing  ques 
tion  for  the  slave-owners  in  the  North ;  for  those  of  the  South, 
it  is  a  question  of  life  and  death.  God  forbid  that  I  should  seek 
to  justify  the  principle  of  Negro  slavery,  as  has  been  done  by 
some  American  writers  !  I  say  only,  that  all  the  countries  which 
formerly  adopted  that  execrable  principle  are  not  equally  able 
to  abandon  it  at  the  present  time. 

When  I  contemplate  the  condition  of  the  South,  I  can  only 
discover  two  modes  of  action  for  the  white  inhabitants  of  those 
States ;  viz.  either  to  emancipate  the  Negroes,  and  to  inter 
mingle  with  them,  or,  remaining  isolated  from  them,  to  keep 
them  in  slavery  as  long  as  possible.  All  intermediate  measures 
seem  to  me  likely  to  terminate,  and  that  shortly,  in  the  most 
horrible  of  civil  wars,  and  perhaps  in  the  extirpation  of  one  or 
the  other  of  the  two  races.  Such  is  the  view  which  the  Amer 
icans  of  the  South  take  of  the  question,  and  they  act  consist 
ently  with  it.  As  they  are  determined  not  to  mingle  with  the 
Negroes,  they  refuse  to  emancipate  them. 

Not  th>it  the  inhabitants  of  the  South  regard  slavery  as  neces 
sary  to  the  wealth  of  the  planter ;  on  this  point  many  of  them 
agree  with  their  Northern  countrymen,  in  freely  admitting  that 
slavery  is  prejudicial  to  their  interests ;  but  they  are  convinced 
that  the  removal  of  this  evil  would  peril  their  own  existence. 
.  .  .  Hence  arises  a  singular  contrast ;  the  more  the  utility  of 
slavery  is  contested,  the  more  firmly  it  is  established  in  the  laws ; 
and  whilst  its  principle  is  gradually  abolished  in  the  North,  that 
self-same  principle  gives  rise  to  more  and  more  vigorous  conse 
quences  in  the  South. 


The  Gathering  Clond  311 

If  it  be  impossible  to  anticipate  a  period  at  which  the  Ameri 
cans  of  the  South  will  mingle  their  blood  with  that  of  the  Negroes, 
can  they  allow  their  slaves  to  become  free  without  compromising 
their  own  security  ?  And  if  they  are  obliged  to  keep  that  race 
in  bondage  in  order  to  save  their  own  families,  may  they  not  be 
excused  for  availing  themselves  of  the  means  best  adapted  to 
that  end  ?  The  events  which  are  taking  place  in  the  Southern 
States  appear  to  me  to  be  at  once  the  most  horrible  and  the 
most  natural  results  of  slavery.  When  I  see  the  order  of  nature 
overthrown,  and  when  I  hear  the  cry  of  humanity  in  its  vain 
struggle  against  the  laws,  my  indignation  does  not  light  upon 
the  men  of  our  own  time  who  are  the  instruments  of  these 
outrages ;  but  I  reserve  my  execration  for  those  who,  after  a 
thousand  years  of  freedom,  brought  back  slavery  into  the  world 
once  more. 

Whatever  may  be  the  efforts  of  the  Americans  of  the  South 
to  maintain  slavery,  they  will  not  always  succeed.  Slavery,  now 
confined  to  a  single  tract  of  the  civilized  earth,  attacked  by  Chris 
tianity  as  unjust,  and  by  political  economy  as  prejudicial,  and 
now  contrasted  with  democratic  liberty  and  the  intelligence  of 
our  age,  cannot  survive.  By  the  act  of  the  master,  or  by  the 
will  of  the  slave,  it  will  cease  ;  and  in  either  case,  great  calamities 
may  be  expected  to  ensue.  If  liberty  be  refused  to  the  Negroes 
of  the  South,  they  will,  in  the  end,  forcibly  seize  it  for  themselves ; 
if  it  be  given,  they  will,  erelong,  abuse  it.1 

1  This  entire  passage  shows  how  futile  it  is  for  a  historian,  even  if 
he  have  the  genius  of  a  De  Tocqueville,  to  indulge  in  prophecy,  and 
especially  to  prophesy  in  dilemmas.  The  negro  was  set  at  liberty  neither 
by  the  act  of  the  master  nor  by  the  will  of  the  slave  ;  he  probably  desired 
freedom  as  little,  on  the  whole,  as  he  has  abused  it;  and  as  for  the 
fundamental  dilemma  on  which  the  whole  discussion  of  De  Tocqueville 
rests— -slavery  or  amalgamation  — the  two  races  have  lived  side  by  side 
for  half  a  century  without  prejudice  to  the  integrity  and  supremacy  of 
the  whites. 


CHAPTER  XII 

TEXAS 

THE  "  REOCCUPATION  "  OF  OREGON  AND  THE 
"  REANNEXATION  "  OF  TEXAS 

One  of  the  chief  reasons  for  the  negotiation,  in  April, 
1 844,  by  Calhoun,  of  the  treaty  for  the  annexation  of  Texas 1 
was  the  alleged  interference  of  England  with  that  republic, 
especially  in  the  interests  of  the  abolition  of  slavery.  The 
following  extracts  from  a  London  newspaper  of  August  19, 
1843,  and  the  correspondence  between  Calhoun  and  the 
British  minister  at  Washington,  Richard  Packenham,  show 
the  grounds  for  Southern  apprehension  : 

TEXAS.  —  In  the  House  of  Lords,  on  Friday,  the  i8th  August, 
Lord  Brougham  introduced  the  subject  of  Texas  and  Texan 
slavery  in  the  following  manner: 

Lord  Brougham  said  that,  seeing  his  noble  friend  at  the 
head  of  the  Foreign  Department2  in  his  place,  he  wished  to 
obtain  some  information  from  him  relative  to  a  State  of  great 
interest  at  the  present  time,  namely,  Texas.  That  country  was 
in  a  state  of  independence,  de  facto,  but  its  independence  had 
never  been  acknowledged  by  Mexico,  the  State  from  which  it 
was  torn  by  the  events  of  the  revolution.  He  was  aware  that 
its  independence  had  been  so  far  acknowledged  by  this  country 
[England]  that  we  had  a  treaty  with  it. 

The  importance  of  Texas  could  not  be  under  [over]  rated. 
It  was  a  country  of  the  greatest  capabilities,  and  was  in  extent 

1  For  the  fate  of  the  treaty  see  Muzzey,  An  American  History,  p.  72. 
3  Lord   Aberdeen,    Secretary    of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs  in  the 
cabinet  of  Sir  Robert  Peel. 

312 


Texas  3 1 3 

fully  as  large  as  France.    It  possessed  a  soil  of  the  finest  and 
most  fertile  character,  and  it  was  capable  of  producing  nearly 
all  tropical  produce,  and  its  climate  was  of  the  most  healthy 
character.    It  had  access  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  through  the 
River  Mississippi,  with  which  it  communicated  by  means  of  the 
Red  River.  ...    He  was  grieved  to  learn  that  not  less  than  one 
fourth  of  the  population,  or  25,000  persons,  were  in  a  state 
of  slavery.   This  point  led  him  to  the  foundation  of  the  question 
which  he  wished  to  put  to  his  noble  friend.   There  was  very  little 
or  no  slave  trade  carried  on  with  Texas  from  Africa,  directly ; 
but  a  large  number  of  slaves  were  constantly  being  sent  over 
land  to  that  country.    Although  the  larger  part  of  the  land  in 
Texas  was  well  adapted  for  white  labor,  and  therefore  for  free 
cultivation,  still  the  people  of  that  country,  by  some  strange  in 
fatuation,  or  by  some  inordinate  love  of  immediate  gain,  preferred 
slave  labor  to  free  labor.   As  all  access  to  the  African  slave  mar 
ket  was  shut  out  to  them,  their  market  for  slaves  was  the  United 
States,  from  whence  they  obtained  a  large  supply  of  negro  slaves. 
. .  .  This  made  him  irresistibly  anxious  for  the  abolition  of  slavery 
in  Texas:   for  if  it  were  abolished  there,  not  only  would  that 
country  be  cultivated  by  free  and  white  labor,  but  it  would  put 
a  stop  to  the  habit  of  breeding  slaves  for  the  Texan  market. 
He  therefore  looked  forward  most  anxiously  to  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  Texas,  as  he  was  convinced  that  it  would  ultimately 
end  in  the  abolition  of  slavery  throughout  the  whole  of  America. 
He  knew  that  the  Texans  would  do  much,  as  regarded  the  aboli 
tion  of  slavery,  if  Mexico  could  be  induced  to  recognize  their 
independence.   If  therefore  by  our  good  offices  we  could  get  the 
Mexican  government  to  acknowledge  the  independence  of  Texas, 
he  would  suggest  a  hope  that  it  might  terminate  in  the  abolition 
of  slavery  in  Texas,  and  ultimately  the  whole  of  the  Southern 
States  of  America.  .  .  . 

The  Earl  of  Aberdeen,  in  reply,  said  that  he  could  state  that 
not  only  had  this  country  acknowledged  the  independence  of 
Texas,  but  also  that  we  had  a  treaty  of  commerce  and  a  treaty 
for  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade  with  that  power.  ...  He  was 
unable  to  say  that  there  was  an  immediate  prospect  of  obtaining 
the  recognition  of  the  independence  of  Texas  on  the  part  of 


3^4  Slavery  and  the  West 

Mexico  but  ...  an  armistice  had  been  established  between  the 
two  powers ;  and  he  hoped  that  this  would  lead  to  the  absolute 
acknowledgement  of  the  independence  of  Texas  by  Mexico.  .  .  . 
He  was  sure .  that  he  need  hardly  say  that  no  one  was  more 
anxious  than  himself  to  see  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  Texas ; 
and  if  he  could  not  produce  papers  or  give  further  information, 
it  did  not  arise  from  indifference.  .  .  .  He  could  assure  his  noble 
friend  that,  by  means  of  urging  the  negotiations,  as  well  as  by 
every  other  means  in  their  power,  Her  Majesty's  ministers  would 
press  this  matter. 

Lord  Brougham  observed  that  nothing  could  be  more  satis 
factory  than  the  statement  of  his  noble  friend,  which  would  be 
received  with  joy  by  all  who  were  favorable  to  the  object  of  the 
anti-slavery  societies. 

Somewhat  disturbed  by  this  report,  and  other  indications 
of  British  solicitude  for  the  condition  of  Texas,1  our  minis 
ter  in  England,  Edward  Everett,  told  Lord  Aberdeen  that 
"  he  must  not  be  surprised  at  the  interest  taken  in  the 
subject  by  the  United  States,  when  he  remembered  that 
Texas  and  the  United  States  were  border  countries,  and 
the  necessary  effect  of  the  abolition  in  Texas,  on  slavery 
as  existing  in  the  Union."  Our  State  Department  was 
less  bland.  Secretary  Upshur  opened  negotiations  in 
October,  1843,  with  Texas,  looking  toward  a  treaty  of  an 
nexation,  and,  on  Upshur's  death  (February,  1844),  his 

1  Two  months  before  this  interpellation  in  the  House  of  Lords  a 
delegation  of  Americans  (mostly  from  New  England),  attending  a  con 
vention  in  London,  waited  on  Lord  Aberdeen  to  propose  that  the  British 
government  make  a  loan,  based  on  the  security  of  the  public  lands  in 
Texas,  for  the  purchase  of  the  slaves  in  the  state.  Aberdeen  stated  to 
Everett  that  "  he  gave  them  no  countenance  whatever,"  but  yet  that 
he  "informed  them  that,  by  every  proper  means  of  influence  "  he  would 
encourage  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  that  he  "  had  recommended  the 
Mexican  Government  to  interest  itself  in  the  matter."  The  influence  of 
England  in  Mexico  was  very  strong  (see  J.  Q.  Adams,  Memoirs,  Vol.  XI, 
pp.  340,  347,  351,  355). 


Texas  3 1 5 

successor,  Calhoun,  completed  the  work.  Meanwhile  Eng 
land  was  protesting  her  innocence  of  any  plan  of  aggression 
in  Texas.  On  February  26,  1844,  Packenham  submitted 
to  our  Secretary  of  State  the  following  paper  from  Lord 
Aberdeen,  dated  December  26,  1843  : 

SIR  :  —  As  much  agitation  appears  to  have  prevailed  of  late 
in  the  United  States  relative  to  the  designs  which  Great  Britain 
is  supposed  to  entertain  with  regard  to  the  Republic  of  Texas, 
Her  Majesty's  government  deem  it  expedient  to  take  measures 
for  stopping  at  once  the  misrepresentations  which  have  been 
circulated,  and  the  errors  into  which  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  seems  to  have  fallen  on  the  subject  of  the  policy 
of  Great  Britain  with  respect  to  Texas.  That  policy  is  clear  and 
simple,  and  may  be  stated  in  a  few  words. 

Great  Britain  has  recognized  the  independence  of  Texas,  and, 
having  done  so,  she  is  desirous  of  seeing  that  independence 
finally  and  formally  established,  and  generally  recognized,  espe 
cially  by  Mexico.  . .  .  But  we  have  no  occult  design,  either  with 
reference  to  any  particular  influence  which  we  might  seek  to 
establish  in  Mexico,  or  even  with  reference  to  slavery  which  now 
exists,  and  which  we  desire  to  see  abolished  in  Texas. 

With  regard  to  the  latter  point,  it  must  be  and  is  well  known, 
both  to  the  United  States  and  to  the  whole  world,  that  Great 
Britain  desires,  and  is  constantly  exerting  herself  to  procure, 
the  general  abolition  of  slavery  throughout  the  world.  But 
the  means  which  she  has  adopted,  and  will  continue  to  adopt, 
for  this  humane  and  virtuous  purpose,  are  open  and  undis 
guised.  She  will  do  nothing  secretly  or  underhand.  She  desires 
that  her  motives  may  be  generally  understood,  and  her  acts 
seen  by  all. 

With  regard  to  Texas,  we  avow  that  we  wish  to  see  slavery 
abolished  there,  as  elsewhere ;  and  we  should  rejoice  if  the  rec 
ognition  of  that  country  by  the  Mexican  Government  should  be 
accompanied  on  the  part  of  Texas  by  an  engagement  to  abolish 
slavery  eventually,  and  under  proper  conditions,  throughout  the 
Republic.  .  .  . 


3  1  6  Slavery  and  the  West 

The  British  Government,  as  the  United  States  well  know, 
have  never  sought  in  any  way  to  stir  up  disaffection  or  excite 
ment  of  any  kind  in  the  slave-holding  States  of  the  American 
Union.  .  .  .  To  that  wise  and  just  policy  we  shall  continue  to 
adhere  ;  and  the  Governments  of  the  slave-holding  States  may 
be  assured  that,  although  we  shall  not  desist  from  those  open 
and  honest  efforts  which  we  have  constantly  made  for  procuring 
the  abolition  of  slavery  throughout  the  world,  we  shall  neither 
openly  nor  secretly  resort  to  any  measures  which  can  tend  to 
disturb  their  internal  tranquillity,  or  thereby  affect  the  prosperity 
of  the  American  Union. 

You  will  communicate  this  despatch  to  the  United  States 
Secretary  of  State,  and,  if  he  should  desire  it,  you  will  leave  a 
copy  of  it  with  him.  x  am>  etc. 


Calhoun's  reply  to  this  frank  note  of  disclaimer  was  not 
made  until  the  treaty  for  the  annexation  of  Texas  was 
signed  and  ready  to  submit  to  the  Senate  (April  12). 
Then  under  date  of  April  18,  1844,  he  writes  to  acknowl 
edge  Aberdeen's  communication  : 

.  .  .  The  undersigned  is  directed  by  the  President  to  inform 
the  Right  Honorable  Mr.  Packenham,  that,  while  he  regards 
with  pleasure  the  disavowal  of  Lord  Aberdeen  of  any  intention 
on  the  part  of  Her  Majesty's  Government  "  to  resort  to  any 
measures,  either  openly  or  secretly,  which  can  tend  to  disturb 
the  internal  tranquillity  of  the  slaveholding  States,  and  thereby 
affect  the  tranquillity  of  this  Union,"  he  at  the  same  time  re 
gards  with  deep  concern  the  avowal,  for  the  first  time  made  to 
this  government,  "  that  Great  Britain  desires  and  is  constantly 
exerting  herself  to  procure  the  general  abolition  of  slavery 
throughout  the  world." 

^o  long  as  Great  Britain  confined  her  policy  to  the  abolition 
of  slavery  in  her  own  possessions  and  colonies,  no  other  country 
had  a  right  to  complain.  It  belonged  to  her  exclusively  to  deter 
mine,  according  to  her  own  views  of  policy,  whether  it  should 
be  done  or  not.  But  when  she  goes  beyond,  and  avows  it  as 


Texas  317 

her  settled  policy,  and  the  object  of  her  constant  exertions,  to 
abolish  it  throughout  the  world,  she  makes  it  the  duty  of  all 
other  countries,  whose  safety  or  prosperity  may  be  endangered 
by  her  policy,  to  adopt  such  measures  as  they  may  deem 
necessary  for  their  protection. 

It  is  with  still  deeper  concern  that  the  President  regards  the 
avowal  of  Lord  Aberdeen  of  the  desire  of  Great  Britain  to  see 
slavery  abolished  in  Texas,  and,  as  he  infers,  is  endeavoring 
through  her  diplomacy,  to  accomplish  it,  by  making  the  abolition 
of  slavery  one  of  the  conditions  on  which  Mexico  should  ac 
knowledge  her  independence.  It  has  confirmed  his  previous  im 
pressions  as  to  the  policy  of  Great  Britain  in  reference  to  Texas, 
and  made  it  his  duty  to  examine  with  much  care  and  solicitude 
what  would  be  its  effects  on  the  prosperity  and  safety  of  the 
United  States,  should  she  succeed  in  her  endeavors.  ...  It  is 
sufficient  to  say  that  the  consummation  of  the  avowed  object 
of  her  wishes  in  reference  to  Texas  would  be  followed  by  hos 
tile  feelings  and  relations  between  that  country  and  the  United 
States,  which  could  not  fail  to  place  her  [Texas]  under  the  influ 
ence  and  control  of  Great  Britain.  This,  from  the  geographical 
position  of  Texas,  would  expose  the  weakest  and  most  vulner 
able  portion  of  our  frontier  to  inroads,  and  place  in  the  power 
of  Great  Britain  the  most  efficient  means  of  effecting  in  the 
neighboring  States  of  the  Union  what  she  avows  to  be  her  desire 
to  do  in  all  countries  where  slavery  exists.  .  .  . 

It  is  well  known  that  Texas  has  long  desired  to  be  annexed 
to  this  Union ;  that  her  people,  at  the  time  of  the  adoption  of 
her  Constitution,  expressed,  by  an  almost  unanimous  vote,1  her 
desire  to  that  effect :  and  that  she  has  never  ceased  to  desire  it, 
as  the  most  certain  means  of  promoting  her  safety  and  pros 
perity.  The  United  States  have  heretofore  declined  to  meet  her 
wishes ;  but  the  time  has  now  arrived  when  they  can  no  longer 
refuse.2  .  .  .  Nor  are  they  in  any  way  responsible  for  the  cir 
cumstances  which  have  imposed  this  obligation  on  them.  They 

1  There  were  but  ninety-three  votes  cast  against  annexation  by  the 
people  of  Texas  in  1836. 

2  The   student  will    remember  that   the  treaty  of   annexation  was 
already  signed  when  Calhoun  sent  this  letter. 


Slavery  and  the  West 


76.  An  abo 
litionist  on 
annexation, 
January  22, 
1845 
[274] 


had  no  agency  in  bringing  about  the  state  of  things  which  has 
terminated  in  the  separation  of  Texas  from  Mexico.1  It  was  the 
Spanish  Government  and  Mexico  herself  which  invited  and 
offered  high  inducements  to  our  citizens  to  colonize  Texas.  .  .  . 
It  is  true,  the  United  States,  at  an  early  period,  recognized  the 
independence  of  Texas ;  but  in  doing  so  they  but  acted  in  con 
formity  with  an  established  principle  to  recognize  the  Govern 
ment  de  facto.  .  .  . 

].  C.  CALHOUN 

The  presidential  campaign  of  1844  turned  wholly  on 
the  issue  of  Texas,  the  logical  candidates  in  each  party 
writing  letters  on  the  subject  which  cost  the  one  (Van 
Buren,  Democrat)  the  nomination,  and  the  other  (Henry 
Clay,  Whig)  the  election.2  When  the  country  seemed  to 
indorse  the  policy  of  annexation,  by  the  election  of  Polk 
in  November,  the  free-soilers  made  a  desperate  but  un 
availing  fight  to  avert  what  they  considered  the  greatest 
calamity  that  had  threatened  the  nation  since  its  birth. 
Joshua  Giddings,  elected  to  Congress  in  1838  as  its  first 
abolitionist  member,  spoke  as  follows  in  the  House, 
January  22,  1845  : 

.  .  .  The  President  in  his  message  says,  that  "the  annexation 
of  Texas  to  the  United  States  will  give  Mexico  no  just  cause  of 
offence."  3  We  are  all  conscious  that  a  state  of  war  now  exists 

1  Van  Buren,  in  his  letter  on  Texas,  April  20,  1844,  says :  "  Nothing 
is  either  more  true  or  more  extensively  known  than  that  Texas  was 
wrested  from  Mexico,  and  her  independence  established,  through  the 
instrumentality  of  citizens  of  the  United  States."    Niles'  Register,  Vol. 
LXVI,  p.  156. 

2  The  letters  of  Clay  and  Van  Buren  may  be  found  in  Niles'  Register, 
Vol.  LXVI,  pp.  152-157. 

3  In  his  annual  message  of  December  3,  1844,  President  Tyler  said  : 
"  Mexico  has  no  just  ground  of  displeasure  against  this  government 
or  people  for  the  negotiation  of  the  treaty  [that  is,  Calhoun's  treaty  of 
April  12,  1844].   What  interest  of  hers  was  affected  by  the  treaty?   She 
was  despoiled  of  nothing,  since  Texas  was  forever  lost  to  her.     The 


Texas  319 

between  Texas  and  Mexico.  By  entering  into  the  proposed 
union  with  Texas,  we  shall  become  obligated  to  defend  her. 
And  when  the  armies  of  Mexico  invade  Texas,  we  must  of  course 
send  our  army  and  navy  to  repel  such  invasion.  This  interfer 
ence  will  constitute  us  the  aggressors.  We  shall  thus  make  the 
war  of  Texas  otir  war ;  and  our  sons  will  be  liable  to  march  to 
that  country  to  fight  the  battles  of  Texas,  to  shed  their  blood, 
and  leave  their  bones  to  whiten  upon  her  plains,  in  order  that 
slavery  may  continue  and  the  slave-trade  flourish.1  .  .  . 

During  the  late  political  campaign,  in  some  of  the  slave- 
breeding  States  these  objects  were  eloquently  urged.  .  .  .  This 
same  object  of  maintaining  the  slave-trade  was  avowed  in  the 
other  end  of  this  capitol  by  a  distinguished  Senator  [Mr. 
McDufBe,  of  South  Carolina],  who,  after  stating  the  increase 
of  slaves  in  the  Southern  States,  remarked : 

"  Now  if  we  shall  annex  Texas,  it  will  operate  as  a  safety-valve 
to  let  off  this  superabundant  slave  population  from  among  us." 

And  the  same  doctrine  was  advanced  on  this  floor  by  gentle 
men  from  the  slave  States  who  boldly  avowed  that  "  slavery 
must  be  maintained  in  Texas,  or  it  must  cease  to  exist  in  the 
United  States."  .  .  . 

I  will  detain  the  committee  for  a  moment,  by  calling  their 
attention  to  the  peculiar  attitude  in  which  we,  as  a  nation,  are 
now  placed  before  the  civilized  world.  England  has  abolished 
slavery  in  her  dominions.  France  is  already  moving  upon  that 
subject,  and  Denmark  has  taken  the  incipient  steps  for  setting 

independence  of  Texas  was  recognized  by  several  of  the  leading  powers 
of  the  earth.  She  was  free  to  treat,  free  to  adopt  her  own  line  of  policy, 
free  to  take  the  course  she  believed  was  best  calculated  to  secure  her 
happiness." — J.  D.  Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents, 
Vol.  IV,  p.  342. 

1  The  abolitionists  maintained  that  the  sole  object  of  the  annexation 
of  Texas  was  the  extension  of  the  slave  area.  The  fact  that  many  pro- 
slavery  men  voted  against  Calhoun's  treaty  of  annexation  disproves  this 
view.  James  Russell  Lowell  in  his  stirring  poem,  "  The  Present  Crisis," 
which  was  inspired  by  the  annexation  policy  of  1844,  expresses  the  view 

"  Slavery,  the  earth-born  Cyclops,  fellest  of  the  giant  brood  .  .  . 
Famished  in  his  self-made  desert,  blinded  by  our  purer  day, 
Gropes  in  yet  unblasted  regions  for  his  miserable  prey." 


320  Slavery  and  the  West 

her  slaves  free.  So  palpable  are  the  turpitude  and  disgrace  of 
holding  slaves,  that  even  semi-barbarous  nations  are,  at  this  day, 
lustrating  themselves  from  its  moral,  contagion.  The  Bey  of 
Tripoli,  in  his  decree  prohibiting  the  slave-trade,  which  our 
honorable  Secretary  of  State  [Calhoun]  is  so  anxious  to  main 
tain,  declared  that  he  did  it  "  for  the  honor  of  man  and  the 
glory  of  God."  But  while  the  Bey  of  Tripoli  and  the  Pacha  of 
Egypt  are  extending  the  enjoyment  of  civil  liberty,  this  govern 
ment  is  openly  engaged  in  endeavoring  to  extend  the  institution 
of  slavery.  .  .  . 

Our  representatives  in  1776  declared  the  right  of  man  to  the 
enjoyment  of  his  liberty  to  be  self-evident,  while  our  Executive 
in  1844  declares  the  progress  of  human  liberty  in  a  neighboring 
government  to  be  highly  dangerous  to  our  prosperity.  Of  all  the 
civilized  nations  of  the  earth,  ours  alone  now  stands  as  the 
advocate  of  negro  slavery.  The  spectacle  is  humiliating.  .  .  . 

Our  honorable  Secretary  of  State  urges  upon  Mr.  King 
[United  States  minister  at  Paris]  and  the  French  government 
that  the  abolition  of  slavery  "  has  diminished  the  exports  of  the 
British  West  India  Islands  "  ;  and  he  infers  that  it  would  have 
the  same  effect  in  this  country,  if  our  States  were  to  follow  their 
example  in  respect  to  emancipation.  Now,  Sir,  the  argument  is 
not  legitimate.  It  places  pecuniary  profit  in  the  scale  against  the 
natural  rights  of  man,  and  gives  preponderance  to  the  former. 
Go  to  the  thief  who  lives  and  thrives  by  his  midnight  larcenies ; 
remonstrate  with  him  ;  tell  him  that  the  property  of  his  neighbors 
of  right  belongs  to  them,  and  that  he  ought  not  feloniously  to 
take  it,  — he  may  turn  round,  and,  in  the  language  of  our  honor 
able  Secretary,  say  to  you,  that  were  he  to  adopt  your  ideas  of 
justice,  and  cease  his  thefts,  "  his  exports  would  be  diminished." 
.  .  .  His  excuse  would  not  mitigate  his  crimes ;  nay,  it  would 
aggravate  his  guilt.  So  with  our  Secretary's  argument.  If  slavery 
be  opposed  to  the  natural  rights  of  men ;  if  it  be  a  self-evident 
truth-  that  "  man  is  born  free,"  .  .  .  then  it  is  a  crime  for  us  to 
rob  him  of  his  God-given  rights,  although  it  may  thereby  "  in 
crease  our  exports."  .  .  . 

General  Jackson  and  others  say  that  it  is  necessary  that  we 
should  have  Texas  as  a  means  of  national  defence.  I  reply  that 


Texas  321 

every  addition  of  Slave  territory  renders  us  weaker,  and  places 
a  heavier  burden  on  the  free  States.  This  extending  slavery  at 
the  expense  of  our  free  States,  is  what  the  honorable  Secretary 
regards  as  economy.  If  Southern  gentlemen  regard  it  in  that 
light,  I  may  be  permitted  to  assure  them  that  we  of  the  North 
look  upon  its  economical  bearings  as  altogether  unfavorable  to 
our  interests.  We  are  bound  by  the  Constitution  to  defend  the 
Southern  States  in  case  of  invasion,  or  of  domestic  violence. 
That  stipulation  we  will  perform  to  the  letter ;  but  there  we 
stop —  we  go  no  further.  We  will  not  take  upon  ourselves  any 
obligation  to  protect  the  slaveholders  of  Texas.  .  .  . 

The  pecuniary  bearings  of  slavery  were  well  illustrated  in  the 
Florida  WTar,  which  was  commenced  and  prosecuted  in  order  to 
recapture  the  fugitive  slaves  who  had  sought  an  asylum  in  that 
territory.1    It  was  carried  on  for  seven  years,  at  an  expenditure 
of  forty  million  dollars,  and  some  hundreds  of  lives,  in  order  to 
capture  and  return  to  their  owners  some  five  hundred  slaves ; 
making  each  slave  cost  the  nation  about  eighty  thousand  dollars, 
mostly  taken  from  the  pockets  of  Northern  freemen.   This  is  the 
economy  of  slavery.   Sir,  I  object  to  placing  ourselves  in  a  situ 
ation  to  be  called  upon  to  catch  the  runaway  slaves  of  Texas. 
If  this  be  economy,  may  Heaven  save  us  from  its  extension.  .  .  . 
Gentlemen  here'become  pathetic  upon  the  sufferings  to  which 
the  people  of  Texas  have  been  subjected  during  their  war  with 
Mexico.    They  speak  in  melting  terms  of  the  predatory  warfare 
heretofore  carried  on  against  Texas,  and  they  ask  the  people  of 
our  free  States  to  relieve  them  from  Mexican  barbarity.    Why, 
Sir,  there  is  more  human  suffering  in  this  city  every  year  by 
reason  of  the  slave-trade,  than  has  been  endured  by  the  whole 
people  of  Texas  during  their  entire  revolution  of  eight  years. 
The  consumption  of  human  life  attendant  and  consequent  upon 
the  slave-trade  in  this  district,  is  greater  every  year  than  it  has 
been  in  Texas  during  any  period  of  their  war  with  Mexico.    It 
should  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  slave  trade  is  authorized  and 
maintained  by  act  of  Congress,  which  the  advocates  of  annexation 

1  This  was  but  one  of  several  causes  of  the  Florida  War.   See  Muzzey, 
An  American  History,  pp.  201-205. 


322  Slavery  and  the  West 

refuse  to  repeal.  .  .  ,  Gentlemen  on  this  floor,  whose  hearts  are 
unmoved  by  all  the  suffering  of  the  slave  population  here,  and 
by  all  the  blood  that  is  annually  shed  in  this  district,  become 
eloquent  upon  the  sufferings  endured  by  the  people  of  Texas. 
They  are  willing  to  spend  the  national  treasure,  and  pour  out 
American  blood  to  protect  the  Texans,  while  they  will  authorize 
by  law  all  those  crimes  and  outrages  and  all  the  violence  and 
bloodshed  attendant  upon  the  slave-trade  in  this  district.  Indeed, 
they  are  striving  to  extend  and  perpetuate  those  crimes  in  Texas, 
under  the  plea  of  "  extending  the  area  of  freedom"  .  .  . 

The  momentous  questions  of  Liberty  and  Slavery  are  now 
before  the  people  of  this  nation.  They  have  been  forced  upon 
us  by  the  slave-holders  of  the  South.  Northern  men  cannot,  will 
not,  shrink  from  the  discussion.  They  have  become  the  great 
absorbing  topics  in  this  hall,  in  most  of  our  State  legislatures, 
and  by  the  people  of  the  United  States  generally.  Public  indig 
nation  at  these  attempts  to  involve  us  in  the  crimes  and  dis 
grace  of  slavery,  is  already  awakened.  It  is  rolling  forward  with 
an  irresistible  force ;  which,  ere  long,  will  redeem  and  purify  the 
people  of  the  North  from  the  crimes  and  the  corroding  influence 
of  that  blood-stained  institution.  The  car  of  universal  liberty  is 
moving ;  it  has  acquired  a  momentum  that  cannot  be  stopped ; 
and  those  who  throw  themselves  before  it,  in  order  to  obstruct 
its  progress,  will  be  crushed  beneath  its  resistless  power. 

77.  Benton's       Probably  no  other  claim  of  our  government  was  ever 
"  Fifty-four-6  based  on  a  weaker  foundation,  urged  with  more  vociferous 

Forties,"        pretensions,  or  abandoned  with  more  complacent  haste, 
May  22,  1846  r 

f274l        than  the  claim  of  the  Democratic  platform  of  1844  to  "  the 
whole  of  Oregon"  up  to  parallel  54°  4O7.1   Thomas  H. 

1  The  plain  facts  of  the  case  were  these  :  by  the  treaty  of  1819  Spain's 
claims  to  the  north  on  the  Pacific  coast  were  limited  to  42° ;  by  treaties 
of  1824  and  1825  Russia's  claims  to  the  south  on  the  Pacific  coast  were 
limited  to  54°  40'.  The  region  between  42°  and  54°  40'  was  occupied 
jointly  by  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  first  for  ten  years,  by 
treaty  of  1818,  then  for  an  indefinite  period,  by  treaty  of  1827.  The 
latter  treaty  might  be  broken  after  1828,  by  either  nation's  giving  the 
other  twelve  months'  notice.  Although  there  were  occasional  proposals 


Texas  323 

Benton,  whom  we  have  already  seen  urging  the  occu 
pation  of  the  Columbia«valley  in  1825  (see  No.  65,  p.  258), 
championed  the  adoption  of  the  forty-ninth  parallel  as  the 
just  boundary  line  as  against  the  claims  of  the  "  Fifty- 
four- Forties,"  in  a  two  days'  speech  in  the  Senate,  May  22 
and  May  25,  1846. 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  The  bill  before  the  Senate  proposes  to 
extend  the  sovereignty  and  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States 
over  all  our  territories  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  without 
saying  what  is  the  extent  and  what  are  the  limits  of  this  ter 
ritory.  This  is  wrong,  in  my  opinion.  We  ought  to  define  the 
limits  within  which  our  agents  are  to  do  such  acts  as  this 
bill  contemplates.  ...  My  object  will  be  to  show,  if  I  can, 
the  true  extent  and  nature  of  our  territorial  claims  beyond 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  with  a  view  to  just  and  wise  decisions ; 
and  in  doing  so,  I  shall  endeavor  to  act  upon  the  great  maxim, 
"Ask  nothing  but  what  is  right  —  submit  to  nothing  that  is 
wrong."  .  .  . 

It  has  been  assumed  for  two  years,  and  the  assumption  has 
been  made  the  cause  of  all  the  Oregon  excitement  in  the  country, 
that  we  have  a  dividing  line  with  Russia,  made  so  by  the  con 
vention  of  1824,  along  the  parallel  of  54°  40',  from  the  sea  to 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  up  to  which  our  title  is  good.  This  is  a 
great  mistake.  .  .  .  The  documents  will  prove  that,  so  far  as 
54°  40',  from  the  sea  to  the  mountains,  was  ever  proposed 

to  end  the  joint  occupation  and  fix  a  boundary  line  (at  49°  or  51°)  be 
tween  the  British  and  American  shares  of  Oregon  (such  a  proposal 
being  made  by  Benton  as  early  as  1828),  still  it  was  not  until  April  27, 
1846,  that  a  joint  resolution  of  Congress  gave  President  Polk  the  author 
ity  to  notify  England  of  the  termination  of  the  treaty  of  1827  ;  and  that 
resolution  was  passed  solely  with  the  view  to  enforcing  our  arbitrary 
claim  to  parallel  54°  40'.  The  claim  of  the  United  States  to  54°  40'  was 
first  asserted  by  Tyler  in  his  annual  message  of  December  2,  1843 
(Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers,  Vol.  IV,  p.  258),  was  taken  up 
into  the  Democratic  platform  of  1844  (Stanwood,  History  of  the  Presi 
dency,  p.  215),  and  was  reechoed,  in  what  Lord  Russell  called  "  a  blus 
tering  announcement,"  in  Polk's  Inaugural  Address  of  March  4,  1845 
(Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers,  Vol.  IV,  p.  381). 


324  Slavery  and  the  West 

as  a  northern  boundary  for  any  power,  it  was  proposed  by  us 
for  the  British,  and  not  for  ourselves.  .  .  . 

Here  is  a  despatch  from  Mr.  Rush, 'our  Minister  in  London, 
to  Mr.  Adams,  Secretary  of  State,  dated  December  19,  1823  : 
"  I  at  once  unfolded  to  him  [Mr.  Canning,  foreign  minister  in 
Lord  Liverpool's  cabinet]  the  proposals  of  my  Government, 
which  were :  i .  That  as  regarded  the  country  lying  between 
the  Stony  [Rocky]  Mountains  and  the  Pacific  Ocean,  Great 
Britain,  the  United  States,  and  Russia  should  jointly  enter  into 
a  convention  ...  by  which  the  whole  of  that  country  westward 
of  the  Stony  Mountains,  with  all  its  waters,  would  be  free  and 
open  to  the  citizens  and  subjects  of  the  three  Powers  .  .  .  for 
the  term  of  ten  years.  2.  That  the  United  States  were  willing 
to  stipulate  to  make  no  settlements  north  of  51°,  ...  provided 
Great  Britain  stipulated  to  make  none  south  of  51°  or  north  of 
55°,  and  Russia  to  make  none  south  of  55°."  Here  is  the 
offer,  in  most  explicit  terms  in  1823,  to  make  55°  (which  was 
in  fact  54°  40  *)  the  northern  boundary  of  Great  Britain.  .  .  . 

Yet  that  makes  no  difference  in  the  philosophy  of  our  Fifty- 
four-Forties.  .  .  .  Their  notion  is  that  we  go  jam  up  to  54°  40', 
and  the  Russians  come  jam  down  to  the  same  line,  leaving  no 
place  for  the  British  Lion  to  put  down  a  paw,  although  that 
paw  should  be  no  bigger  than  the  sole  of  the  dove's  foot  which 
sought  a  resting  place  from  Noah's  ark.  This  must  seem  a 
little  strange  to  British  statesmen,  who  do  not  grow  so  fast  as 
to  leave  all  knowledge  behind  them.  They  remember  that  Mr. 
Monroe  and  his  Cabinet  —  the  President  and  the  Cabinet  who 
acquired  the  Spanish  title  [1819]  under  which  we  now  propose 
to  squeeze  them  out  of  the  continent  —  actually  offered  them 
six  [?]  degrees  of  latitude  in  that  very  place ;  and  they  will 
certainly  want  reasons  for  this  so  much  compression  now, 
wjiere  we  offered  them  so  much  expansion  then.  These  reasons 
cannot  be  given.  There  is  no  boundary  at  54°  40';  and  so  far 
as  we  proposed  to  make  it  one,  it  was  for  the  British,  and  not 
for  ourselves.1  And  so  ends  this  redoubtable  line,  up  to  which 

1  It  is  noteworthy  that  Canning,  in  rejecting  the  "tripartite  con 
vention  "  proposed  by  Rush,  objected  not  to  being  confined  to  50°  at 
the  south,  but  to  being  confined  to  55°  at  the  north.  In  other  words 


Texas  325 

all  true  patriots  were  to  march !  and  marching,  fight !  and  fight 
ing,  die !  if  need  be  !  singing  all  the  while  with  Horace  — 
Dulce  et  decorum  est  pro  patrid  mori 
(Sweet  and  decent  it  is  to  die  for  one's  country). 

And  this  is  the  end  of  that  great  line  !  all  gone  —  vanished  — 
evaporated  into  thin  air  —  and  the  place  where  it  was  not  to  be 
found.  Oh !  mountain  that  was  delivered  of  a  mouse,  thy  name 
shall  henceforth  be  fifty-four  forty !  And  thus,  Mr.  President, 
I  trust  I  have  exploded  one  of  the  errors  into  which  the  public 
mind  has  been  led,  and  which  it  is  necessary  to  get  rid  of  before 
we  can  find  the  right  place  for  our  Oregon  boundaries. 

I  proceed  to  another  of  the  same  family  —  the  dogma  of  the 
unity  and  indivisibility  of  the  Oregon  title,  and  its  resulting 
corollary  of  all  or  none.  It  is  assumed  by  the  "friends  of 
Oregon  "  to  be  all  one  title,  all  the  way  from  42°  up  to  54°  40' 
—  no  break  in  it ;  and  consequently  "  all  or  none  "  is  the  only 
logical  solution  which  our  claim  to  it  can  receive.  Well,  this 
may  be  brave  and  patriotic,  but  is  it  wise  and  true  ?  And  can 
we,  with  clear  consciences,  and  without  regard  to  consequences, 
pass  a  law  upon  that  principle,  and  send  our  agents  there  to 
execute  it  ?  These  are  the  questions  which  present  themselves 
to  my  mind,  and  in  answering  which  I  wish  to  keep  before  my 
eyes  the  first  half  of  the  great  maxim — ask  nothing  but  what  is 
right.  I  answer,  then,  that  our  title  to  what  is  called  all  Oregon 
is  not  one,  but  several ;  that  it  consists  of  parts,  and  is  good  for 
part  and  bad  for  part ;  and  that  nothing  just  or  wise  can  be 
determined  in  relation  to  it  without  separating  these  parts  into 
their  proper  divisions  and  giving  to  each  division  the  separate 
consideration  and  judgment  which  belongs  to  it.  Thus  the  title 
to  the  Columbia  River  and  its  valley  was  complete  before  the 
claim  to  Frazer's  River  and  its  valley  began ;  and  the  claim  to 
the  islands  and  coasts  rests  upon  a  different  state  of  facts,  and 
a  different  principle  of  national  law,  from  that  which  applies  to 
the  Continent.  .  .  . 

Great  Britain  refused  to  let  us  fix  her  boundary  with  Russia  at  55° 
(54°  40')-  We  were  now  claiming  (in  1844)  that  54°  40'  was  our  bound 
ary  with  Russia.  See  Canning's  dispatch  (Rush  to  Adams)  quoted  in 
Congressional  Globe,  2Qth  Congress,  ist  session,  p.  852. 


326  Slavery  and  the  West 

The  valley  of  the  Columbia  is  ours ;  ours  by  discovery,  by 
settlement,  and  by  the  treaty  of  Utrecht !  And  has  too  often 
been  so  admitted  by  Great  Britain,  to  admit  of  her  disputing  it 
now.  I  do  not  plead  our  title  to  that  great  country.  I  did  that 
twenty  years  ago,  when  there  were  few  to  repeat  or  applaud 
what  I  said  [see  No.  65,  p.  259].  I  pass  over  the  ground  which 
I  trod  so  long  ago,  and  which  has  been  again  so  much  trodden 
of  late,  and  take  up  the  question  at  a  fresh  place  —  the  admis 
sions  of  Great  Britain !  and  show  that  she  is  con[ex]cluded  by 
her  own  acts  and  words  from  ever  setting  up  any  claim  to  the 
river  and  valley  of  the  Columbia,  or  to  any  part  of  the  territory 
south  of  the  49  th  degree.  .  .  . 

Up  to  that  line,  if  it  becomes  necessary,  I  am  willing  to  fight ; 
but  before  fighting  I  want  to  talk  —  to  talk  understandingly, 
with  a  knowledge  of  the  subject.  ...  It  is  not  new  talk  with 
me.  Twenty-eight  years  ago,  I  wrote  what  I  now  speak.  Eight 
een  years  ago,  and  when  I  had  already  been  eight  years  a 
member  of  this  body,  I  submitted  a  resolution  in  relation  to 
this  Oregon  question,  which  I  have  seen  no  reason  to  retract 
or  modify  since  that  time,  and  which  may  stand  for  the  text  of 
my -speech  this  day.  It  was  in  these  words.  .  .  . 

"Resolved,  That  it  is  expedient  for  the  government  of  the 
United  States  to  treat  with  his  Brittanic  Majesty,  in  reference 
to  their  claims  and  boundaries,  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
upon  the  basis  of  a  separation  of  interests,  and  the  establish 
ment  of  the  49th  degree  of  north  latitude  as  a  permanent  bound 
ary  between  them,  in  the  shortest  possible  time." 

It  was  in  the  session  of  1827—28,  and  before  the  ratification  of 
the  second  partnership  convention *  —  the  one  we  are  now  deter 
mined  to  get  rid  of  even  at  the  price  of  war  —  and  with  the  view 
of  preventing  the  ratification  of  that  convention,  that  this  resolu 
tion  was  submitted.  It  presented  my  view  of  the  settlement  of 
this  question,  namely,  no  partnerships,  the  immediate  establish 
ment  of  a  boundary,  and  the  49th  parallel  for  that  boundary.  . ..  . 

It  is  the  line  of  all  the  American  statesmen,  without  exception, 
twenty  and  forty  years  ago.  It  was  the  line  of  Mr.  Canning  in 

1  See  p.  322,  note. 


Texas  327 

1823.  It  is  the  line  for  the  rejection  of  which  by  Mr.  Packenham, 
without  reference  to  his  Government,  Sir  Robert  Peel  has  lately, 
and  publicly,  in  the  face  of  the  world,  expressed  regret.1  It  is 

1  The  gist  of  the  intricate  Oregon  negotiations  is  as  follows :  In  the 
summer  of  1844  (in  spite  of  the  "re-occupation"  plank  in  the  Demo 
cratic  platform)  Calhoun  was  corresponding  with  Packenham  to  secure 
the  settlement  of  the  Oregon  boundary  at  49°.  The  English  rejected 
the  terms,  desiring  the  Columbia  valley.  Again,  in  July,  1845,  Secretary 
of  State  Buchanan  offered  the  boundary  line  of  49°,  and  again  Packenham 
rudely  rejected  it,  "without  reference  to  his  government."  Buchanan 
then  (August  30, 1845)  withdrew  the  offer  of  49°.  As  the  Mexican  trouble 
deepened,  both  the  United  States  and  England  wished  to  avoid  a  clash  of 
arms  in  Oregon.  Sir  Robert  Peel,  the  British  prime  minister,  expressed 
his  regret  for  Packenham's  hasty  refusal,  and  several  influential  English 
newspapers  spoke  with  favor  of  the  line  49°.  Finally  (June  6,  1846) 
Buchanan  received  from  the  British  minister  a  project  for  a  treaty 
dividing  Oregon  at  49°;  and  Polk,  after  securing  a  favorable  opinion 
on  it  from  the  Senate,  concluded  the  bargain.  In  spite  of  Folk's  "  bluster 
ing  announcement"  in  his  inaugural  address,  claiming  the  whole  of 
Oregon  to  54°  40',  there  are  many  indications  in  his  Diary  (see  intro 
duction  to  No.  78,  p.  328)  that  he  was  at  heart  in  favor  of  compromising 
on  the  line  49°.  First,  on  October  24,  1845,  he  submitted  to  Benton  (a 
well-known  and  determined  advocate  of  49°)  the  correspondence  be 
tween  Buchanan  and  Packenham,  and  told  Benton  that  he  had  "  reluc 
tantly  yielded  his  assent"  to  Buchanan  to  make  the  offer  of  July,  1845 
(Diary,  Vol.  I,  p.  69).  Second,  on  December  9  he  told  Buchanan,  who 
was  anxious  to  settle  with  England  on  the  line  of  49°,  that  if  the 
British  government  made  the  offer  he  "  would  consider  what  action  it 
might  be  proper  to  take";  and  that  "he  did  not  desire  war"  (Diary, 
Vol.  I,  p.  120).  Third,  on  December  27  he  secured  from  his  cabinet 
the  unanimous  opinion  that  "  if  Mr.  Packenham  offered  the  49°  or  a 
proposition  equivalent  to  it,"  he  should  refer  the  offer  to  the  Senate 
(Diary,  Vol.  I,  p.  147).  Fourth,  on  February  24,  1846,  he  listened  to 
the  plan  of  a  group  of  Southern  senators  to  bring  forward  a  resolu 
tion  asking  him  to  compromise  the  Oregon  question,  and  resented  the 
threat  of  Senator  Allen,  a  fifty-four-forty  man,  that  if  he  compromised 
on  Oregon  he  would  injure  his  chances  for  reelection  in  1848  (Diary, 
Vol.  I,  pp.  246,  248).  Fifth,  on  April  9  he  promised  Benton,  who  called 
with  a  British  map  on  which  parallel  49°  was  marked  with  dotted  lines, 
that  he  would  submit  to  the  Senate  any  proposal  from  England  to  re 
new  negotiations  (Diary,  Vol.  I,  p.  324).  Sixth,  finally,  on  May  3,  he 
told  Benton  —  the  avowed  champion  of  49°  —  that  "  he  would  be  grati 
fied  "  if  he  would  "  take  the  matter  in  hand  and  press  the  Oregon 
jurisdiction  bill  through  the  Senate"  (Diary,  Vol.  I,  p.  377). 


328 


Slavery  and  the  West 


a  line  which  we  have  never  presented  as  an  ultimatum ;  which 
we  have  often  proposed  gently,  and  which  the  British  have  as 
often  gently  shoved  aside.  .  .  .  But  now  all  this  gentle  and  de 
lusive  work  is  done  with.  The  joint  use  is  to  terminate — events 
advance  —  and  the  question  must  be  settled  now  by  reason  and 
judgment,  or  it  will  soon  settle  itself  by  chance  and  arms.  Forty- 
nine  is  the  right  line  with  me ;  and  acting  upon  the  second  half 
of  the  great  maxim :  Submit  to  nothing  wrong !  I  shall  submit 
to  no  invasion  or  encroachment  upon  that  line.  ...  It  is  the 
line  of  right)  which  gives  to  us  the  Olympic  district  and  its 
invaluable  waters,  and  secures  to  us  the  river  and  valley  of  the 
Columbia.  It  is  the  fighting  line  of  the  United  States.  The 
UNION  can  be  rallied  on  that  line ! 


78.  Leaves 


the  Mexican 


1848 
[275] 


THE  MEXICAN  WAR 

On  August  25,  1845,  President  Polk  had  a  conversation 
m  his  cabinet  with  his  Secretary  of  State,  James  Buchanan, 
on  j-^g  Oregon  question.  "This  conversation,"  says  Polk 
in  his  "  Diary,"  just  a  year  later,  "  was  of  so  important  a 
character,  that  I  deemed  it  proper  on  the  same  evening  to 
reduce  the  substance  of  it  to  writing.  ...  It  was  this  cir 
cumstance  which  first  suggested  to  me  the  idea,  if  not  the 
necessity,  of  keeping  a  journal  or  diary  of  events  and  trans 
actions  which  might  occur  during  my  Presidency.  I  resolved 
to  do  so  and  accordingly  procured  a  blank  book  for  that 
purpose  on  the  very  next  day,  in  which  I  have  every  day 
since  noted  whatever  occurred  that  I  deemed  of  interest."  J 
The  diary,  filling  twenty-five  "blank  books,"  and  covering 
the  period  from  August  26,  1845,  to  June  2,  1849,  was 
kept  in  possession  of  the  Polk  family  until  IQOI,2  when  it 


1  The  Diary  of  James  K.  Polk,  ed.  M.  M.  Quaife,  Vol.  II,  p.  101. 

2  Mrs.  Polk  lent  the  manuscript  to  the  historian  George  Bancroft,  who 
had  a  typewritten  transcript  made  of  it,  which  has  been  quite  widely 
used,  and  which,  on  Bancroft's  death,  went  to  the   Lenox  Library  in 


Texas  329 

was  purchased  by  the  Chicago  Historical  Society,  by  whom 
it  was  published,  with  notes  by  M.  M.  Quaife,  in  four 
volumes,  in  1910.  We  select  some  passages  touching 
the  Mexican  War : 

Friday,  29th  August,  1845 — The  President  called  a  special 
meeting  of  the  Cabinet  at  12  O'clock,  all  the  members  present 
except  Mr.  Mason.  The  President  brought  up  for  consideration 
our  relations  with  Mexico,  and  the  threatened  invasion  of  Texas 
with  [by]  that  power.  He  submitted  the  following  propositions 
which  were  unanimously  agreed  to  as  follows,  viz.,  If  Mexico 
should  declare  War  or  actual  hostilities  should  be  commenced  by 
that  power,  orders  to  be  issued  to  Gen'l  Taylor  to  attack  and 
drive  her  back  across  the  Del  Norte  [Rio  Grande].  .  .  .  Gen'l 
Taylor  to  be  vested  with  discretionary  authority  to  pursue  the 
Mexican  army  to  the  West  of  the  Del  Norte,  and  take  Matamoras 
or  any  other  Spanish  Post  West  of  that  River,  but  not  to  pene 
trate  any  great  distance  into  the  interior  of  Mexican  territory 

Tuesday,  i6th  September,  1845.  —  Despatches  were  read  from 
Dr  Parrott,  the  confidential  agent  of  the  U.S.  in  Mexico,  giving 
an  account  of  another  threatened  Revolution.  .  .  .  He  gives  it 
as  his  opinion  that  there  will  be  no  declaration  of  war  against 
the  U.S.  and  no  invasion  of  Texas.  . .  .  He  is  also  of  the  opinion 
that  the  Government  is  desirous  to  re-establish  Diplomatic  rela 
tions  with  the  U.  States,  and  that  a  Minister  from  the  U.S.  would 
be  received.  .  . .  The  President,  in  consultation  with  the  Cabinet, 
agreed  that  the  Hon.  John  Slidell  of  New  Orleans  .  .  .  should  be 
tendered  the  mission.  .  .  .  One  great  object  of  the  mission,  as 
stated  by  the  President,  would  be  to  adjust  a  permanent  boundary 
between  Mexico  and  the  U.  States,  and  that  in  doing  this  the 
Minister  would  be  instructed  to  purchase  for  a  pecuniary  con 
sideration  Upper  California  and  New  Mexico.  He  said  that  a 
better  boundary  would  be  the  Del  Norte  [Rio  Grande]  from  its 
mouth  to  the  Passo  [El  Paso]  in  latitude  about  32°  North,  and 

New  York.  The  diary  is  the  most  detailed  record  of  a  presidential  ad 
ministration  in  our  history,  exceeding  in  fullness  even  the  "  Memoirs  " 
of  John  Quincy  Adams  during  the  years  of  his  presidency. 


3  3°  Slavery  and  the  West 

thence  West  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.1 .  .  .  He  supposed  it  might 
be  had  for  fifteen  or  twenty  millions,  but  he  was  ready  to  pay 
forty  millions  for  it,  if  it  could  not  be  had  for  less.  In  these 
views  the  Cabinet  agreed  with  the  President  unanimously. 

Monday,  ioth  November,  1845  — .  .  .  At  ten  O'clock  P.M., 
...  I  signed  the  Commission  of  the  Hon.  John  Slidell  as  Envoy 
Extraordinary  &  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  Mexico.  .  .  . 

Tuesday,  13th  January,  1846  —  There  was  a  regular  meeting 
of  the  Cabinet  today.  .  .  .  Despatches  from  Mexico  which  had 
been  received  last  evening  were  read  and  considered.  Some  other 
public  matters  not  important  were  also  considered.2 .  .  . 

Tuesday,  7 th  April,  1846  —  A  despatch  was  received  by  last 
night's  mail  from  our  consul  at  Vera  Cruz,  which  renders  it 

1  Let  the  student  compare  the  actual  southwestern  boundary  of  the 
United  States  with  this  proposal  of  Folk's.    The  entry  quoted  is  signifi 
cant  as  showing  the  resolve  of  the  administration  to  have  California  and 
New  Mexico,  even  at  the  expense  of  $40,000,000,  over  six  months  before 
the  Mexican  War  began. 

2  This  brief,  colorless  entry  was  made  on  the  evening  of  the  day  of 
Folk's  most  fateful  move  in  connection  with  the  Mexican  affair.    In  his 
war  message  to  Congress,  May  n,  1846,  Polk  says,  "On  the  I3th  of 
January  last,  instructions  were  issued  to  the  General  (Taylor)  in  command 
of  these  troops  to  occupy  the  left  bank  of  the  Del  Norte"  (Richardson, 
Messages  and  Papers,  Vol.  IV,  p.  440).    This  occupation  in  arms  of  the 
region  between  the  Nueces  and  the  Rio  Grande,  which  was  in  dispute 
between  Texas  and  Mexico,  was  a  cause  of  war  in  the  eyes  of  Mexico. 
Polk  maintained  that  the  "  despatches  from  Mexico  "  which  rendered 
this  move  necessary  were  rumors  of  Mexican  preparations  for  the  in 
vasion  of  Texas  (see  his  war  message) ;  but  the  Whig  opponents  of 
armed  intervention  scouted  the  idea.     Representative  Alexander  H. 
Stephens  said  in  the  House,  June  16,  1846 :  "  My  first  proposition  is  that 
the  immediate  cause  of  hostilities  between  our  army  and  the  Mexican 
forces  was  the  advance  movement  from  Corpus  Christi  on  the  Nueces 
River,  to  Matamoras  on  the  Rio  Grande  or  Del  Norte.  . .  .  The  President 
had  no  right,  no  power,  legally,  to  order  the  military  occupation  of  the 
disputed  territory  on  the  Rio  Grande  without  authority  from  Congress 
.  .  .  the  question  of  boundary  (was)  to  be  settled  and  adjusted  (by  the 
resolution  for  annexing  Texas)  between  this  Government  and  Mexico, 
by  negotiation,  and  not  by  arms. .  . .   Congress  can  alone  constitutionally 
draw  the  sword  for  any  purpose  "  (Cleveland,  Alexander  H.  Stephens, 
pp.  304,  316).    Stephens  dubbed  the  President,  for  his  specious  argu 
ments,  "  Polk  the  Mendacious." 


Texas  331 

probable  that  Mr.  Slidell,  our  Minister  to  Mexico  will  not  be  re 
ceived  by  that  Government,  &  will  return  to  the  U.  States.  The 
despatch  was  read  &  I  stated  that  in  the  event  Mr.  Slidell  was 
not  accredited,  and  returned  to  the  U.S.,  my  opinion  was  that 
I  should  make  a  communication  to  Congress  recommending 
that  Legislative  measures  be  adopted,  to  take  the  remedies  for 
the  injuries  and  wrongs  we  had  suffered  into  our  own  hands. . .  . 

Tuesday,  28th  April,  1846  — .  .  .  The  Mexican  question  was 
next  discussed,  &  it  was  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  Cabinet 
that  a  message  should  be  sent  to  Congress  laying  the  whole  sub 
ject  before  them  and  recommending  that  measures  be  adopted 
to  take  redress  into  our  own  hands  for  the  aggravated  wrongs 
done  to  our  citizens  in  their  persons  and  property  by  Mexico.1 
I  requested  Mr.  Buchanan  to  prepare  from  the  archives  of  the 
Department  of  State  a  succinct  history  of  these  wrongs  as  the 
basis  of  a  message  to  Congress,  at  his  earliest  convenience.  .  .  . 

Sunday,  3rd  May,  1846  — .  .  .  Col.  Benton  called  this  eve 
ning.  ...  He  expressed  a  decided  aversion  to  a  war  with  Mexico 
if  it  could  be  avoided  consistently  with  the  honour  of  the  country. 
I  told  him  we  had  ample  cause  of  War,  but  that  I  was  anxious 
to  avoid  it  if  it  could  be  done  honourably  and  consistently  with 
the  interests  of  our  injured  citizens.  I  told  him  I  would  delay 
at  all  events  until  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Slidell,  who  was  expected 
daily,  but  that  I  could  not  permit  Congress  to  adjourn  without 
bringing  the  subject  before  that  body. 

Friday,  8th  May,  1846  —  ...  the  Hon.  John  Slidell,  late  U.S. 
Minister  to  Mexico,  called  in  company  with  the  Secretary  of 
State.  .  .  .  Mr.  SlidelPs  opinion  was  that  but  one  course  towards 
Mexico  was  left  to  the  U.S.  and  that  was  to  take  the  redress  of 
the  wrongs  and  injuries  which  we  had  so  long  borne  from  Mexico 
into  our  own  hands,  and  to  act  with  promptness  and  energy. 

Saturday,  9th  May,  1846  —  The  Cabinet  held  a  regular  meet 
ing  today ;  all  the  members  present.  I  brought  up  the  Mexican 
question.  .  .  .  The  subject  was  very  fully  discussed.  All  agreed 
that  if  the  Mexican  forces  at  Matamoras  committed  any  act  of 

1  Four  days  before  this  entry  the  Mexicans  had  attacked  the  Ameri 
cans  on  the  northern  bank  of  the  Rio  Grande.  See  entry  under  May  9. 


332  Slavery  and  the  West 

hostility  on  Gen'l  Taylor's  forces  I  should  immediately  send  a 
message  to  Congress  recommending  an  immediate  declaration 
of  War.  I  stated  to  the  Cabinet  that  up  to  this  time,  as  they 
knew,  we  had  heard  of  no  open  act  of  aggression  by  the  Mexican 
army,  but  that  the  danger  was  imminent  that  such  acts  would  be 
committed.  ...  I  then  propounded  the  distinct  question  to  the 
Cabinet  and  took  their  opinions  individually,  whether  I  should 
make  a  message  to  Congress  on  tuesday  [!],  and  whether  in  that 
message  I  should  recommend  a  declaration  of  War  against 
Mexico.  All  except  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  [Bancroft]  gave 
their  advice  in  the  affirmative.  Mr.  Bancroft  dissented,  but  said 
if  any  act  of  hostility  should  be  committed  by  the  Mexican  forces 
he  was  then  in  favor  of  immediate  war.  Mr.  Buchanan  said  he 
would  feel  better  satisfied  in  his  course  if  the  Mexican  forces  had 
or  should  commit  any  act  of  hostility,  but  that  as  matters  stood 
we  had  ample  cause  of  war  against  Mexico,  and  he  gave  his 
assent  to  the  measure.  It  was  agreed  that  the  Message  should 
be  prepared,  and  submitted  to  the  Cabinet  in  their  meeting  on 
tuesday.  .  .  .  The  Cabinet  adjourned  about  2  O'Clock  P.M.  .  .  . 
About  6  O'Clock  P.M.  Gen'l  R.  Jones,  the  Adjutant  General  of 
the  army,  called  and  handed  to  me  despatches  received  from 
General  Taylor  by  the  Southern  mail  which  had  just  arrived, 
giving  information  that  a  part  of  the  Mexican  army  had  crossed 
[to]  the  Del  Norte  and  attacked  and  killed  and  captured  two 
companies  of  dragoons  of  Gen'l  Taylor's  army,  consisting  of 
63  officers  &  men.  The  despatch  also  stated  that  he  had  on  that 
day  [26th  April] l  made  a  requisition  on  the  Governors  of  Texas 

1  This  was  two  days  after  the  Mexicans'  attack  which  Polk  reports 
in  his  war  message  to  Congress  as  follows :  "  The  Mexican  forces  at 
Matamoras  assumed  a  belligerent  attitude,  and  on  the  I2th  of  April 
General  Ampudia,  then  in  command,  notified  General  Taylor  to  break 
up  his  camp  within  twenty-four  hours  and  to  retire  beyond  the  Nueces 
River,  and,  in  the  event  of  his  failure  to  comply  with  these  demands, 
announced  that  arms,  and  arms  alone,  must  decide  the  question.  But  nc 
open  act  of  hostility  was  committed  until  the  24th  of  April.  On  that  day 
General  Arista,  who  had  succeeded  to  the  command  of  the  Mexican 
forces,  communicated  to  General  Taylor  that  he  considered  hostilities 
commenced,  and  should  prosecute  them."  A  party  of  dragoons  of  63  men 
and  officers  were  on  the  same  day  dispatched  from  the  American  camp 


Texas  333 

and  Louisiana  for  four  regiments  each.  ...  I  immediately  sum 
moned  the  Cabinet  to  meet  at  7^  O'Clock  this  evening.  The 
Cabinet  accordingly  assembled  at  that  hour,  all  the  members 
present.  .  .  .  The  Cabinet  were  unanimously  of  the  opinion,  and 
it  was  so  agreed,  that  a  message  should  be  sent  to  Congress  on 
Monday,  laying  all  the  information  in  my  possession  before  them 
and  recommending  vigorous  &  prompt  measurefs]  to  enable  the 
Executive  to  prosecute  the  War.  .  .  .  Mr.  Senator  Houston, 
Hon.  Barkley  Martin,  &  several  other  members  of  Congress 
called  in  the  course  of  the  evening  &  were  greatly  excited,  at  the 
news  brought  by  the  Southern  mail  from  the  army.  They  all 
approved  the  steps  which  had  been  taken  by  the  administration, 
and  were  all  of  opinion  that  war  with  Mexico  should  now  be 
prosecuted  with  vigor.  The  Cabinet  adjourned  about  10  O'Clock, 
&  I  commenced  my  message ;  Mr.  Bancroft  and  Mr.  Buchanan, 
the  latter  of  whom  had  prepared  a  history  of  our  cause  of  com 
plaint  against  Mexico,  agreed  to  assist  me  in  preparing  the 
message.  .  .  . 

Monday,  nth  May,  1846  — .  .  .At  12  O'Clock  I  sent  my 
message  to  Congress.1  It  was  a  day  of  great  anxiety  with  me. 
Between  5  &  6  O'Clock  P.M.  Mr.  Slidell,  U.S.  Minister  to  Mexico, 
called  and  informed  me  that  the  Ho.  Repts.  [House  of  Repre 
sentatives]  had  passed  a  Bill  carrying  out  all  the  recommendations 
of  the  message  by  a  vote  of  173  ayes  to  14  noes,  and  that  the 
Senate  had  adjourned  after  a  debate,  without  coming  to  any 
decision.  .  .  . 

Tuesday  12th  May,  1846  — ...  At  7  O'Clock  P.M.  my  Private 
Secretary  returned  from  the  Capitol  and  announced  to  me  that 
the  Bill  which  had  passed  the  Ho.  Repts.  on  yesterday,  making 
a  formal  declaration  of  War  against  Mexico,  had  passed  the 
Senate  by  a  vote  of  42  ayes  to  2  noes,  with  some  immaterial 

up  the  Rio  del  Norte,  on  its  left  bank,  to  ascertain  whether  the  Mexican 
troops  had  crossed,  or  were  preparing  to  cross  the  river,  "  became  en 
tangled  with  a  large  body  of  these  troops,  and,  after  a  short  affair,  in 
which  some  sixteen  were  killed  and  wounded,  appear  to  have  been  sur 
rounded  and  compelled  to  surrender."  —  Richardson,  Messages  and 
Papers  of  the  Presidents,  Vol.  IV,  p.  440. 

1  The  war  message  is  in  Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers,  Vol.  IV, 
pp.  437-443  ;  Polk's  proclamation  of  war,  in  facsimile,  ibid.  p.  470. 


334  Slavery  and  the  West 

amendments  in  its  details.  He  represented  to  me  that  the  debate 
in  the  Senate  today  was  most  animated  and  thrilling,  and  that 
Mr.  Calhoun  who  spoke  in  opposition  to  the  Bill,  but  finally  did 
not  vote,  had  suffered  much  in  the  discussion.1  ...  At  8^ 
O'Clock  P.M.  I  learned  that  the  House  had  concurred  in  the 
amendment  of  the  Senate  to  the  Bill,  so  that  when  the  Bill  is 
signed  by  the  President  War  will  be  declared  against  Mexico.  . . . 
Wednesday,  13th  May,  1846  —  A  very  large  number  of  visi 
tors  called  on  me  this  morning,  consisting  of  Senators,  Repre 
sentatives,  citizens  &  strangers.  .  .  .  All  approved  my  acts. 
Many  members  of  Congress,  especially  from  the  Western  States, 
desired  that  volunteers  under  the  law  should  be  accepted  from 
their  respective  States.  ...  I  appointed  a  special  meeting  of  the 
Cabinet  at  7  j-  P.M.  Mr.  Buchanan  read  the  draft  of  a  despatch 
which  he  had  prepared  to  our  Ministers  at  London,  Paris,  & 
other  Foreign  Courts,  announcing  the  declaration  of  War  against 
Mexico,  with  a  statement  of  the  causes  and  objects  of  the  War. . . . 
Among  other  things  Mr.  Buchanan  had  stated  that  our  object 
was  not  to  dismember  Mexico  or  to  make  conquests,  and  that 
the  Del  Norte  was  the  boundary  to  which  we  claimed  ;  or  rather 
that  in  going  to  war  we  did  not  do  so  with  a  view  to  acquire 
either  California  or  New  Mexico  or  any  other  portion  of  the 
Mexican  territory.  I  told  Mr.  Buchanan  that  I  thought  such  a 
declaration  to  Foreign  Governments  unnecessary  and  improper ; 
that  the  causes  of  the  war  as  set  forth  in  my  message  to  Con 
gress  and  the  accompanying  documents  were  altogether  satis 
factory.  I  told  him  that  though  we  had  not  gone  to  war  for 
conquest,  yet  it  was  clear  that  in  making  peace  we  would,  if 
practicable,  obtain  California  and  such  other  portion  of  the 
Mexican  territory  as  would  be  sufficient  to  indemnify  our  claim 
ants  on  Mexico,  and  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  war  which 
that  power  by  her  long  continued  wrongs  and  injuries  had  forced 
us  to  wage.  I  told  him  it  was  well  known  that  the  Mexican 
Government  had  no  other  means  of  indemnifying  us. 

1  The  Debates  in  the  Senate  are  reported  in  the  Congressional  Globe, 
2Qth  Congress,  ist  session,  pp.  804  ff. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

• 

THE  COMPROMISE  OF  1850 

THE  NEW  TERRITORY 

Auri  sacra  fames  !    Never  was  Vergil's  phrase,  "  the  79.  The 
cursed  hunger  for  gold,"  better  illustrated  than  in  the  f^i 
rush  of  the  "  Forty-niners  "  to  California,  and  never  was      [286] 
the  hunger  so  quickly  and  so  amply  satisfied.    Six  weeks' 
digging  often  yielded  nuggets  and  gold  dust  to  the  value 
of  ten  thousand  dollars.    The  following  extracts  from  the 
diary  of  the  Reverend  Walter  Colton  of  Philadelphia,  a 
chaplain  in  the  United  States  navy,  who  spent  the  years 
1846-1849  as  alcalde  (judge)  of  the  Californian  town  of 
Monterey,  portray  the  excitement  of  the  gold  days : 

Monday,  May  29  [1848].  Our  town  was  startled  out  of  its 
quiet  dreams  today,  by  the  announcement  that  gold  had  been 
discovered  on  the  American  Fork.  The  men  wondered  and 
talked,  and  the  women  too ;  but  neither  believed.  .  .  . 

Monday,  June  5.  Another  report  reached  us  this. morning 
from  the  American  Fork.  The  rumor  ran,  that  several  work 
men  while  excavating  for  a  mill-race  had  thrown  up  little  shin 
ing  scales  of  a  yellow  ore  that  proved  to  be  gold ;  that  an  old 
Sonorian,  who  had  spent  his  life  in  gold  mines,  pronounced  it 
the  genuine  thing.  Still  the  public  incredulity  remained.  .  .  . 

Monday,  June  12.  A  straggler  came  in  today  from  the  Amer 
ican  Fork,  bringing  a  piece  of  yellow  ore  weighing  an  ounce. 
The  young  dashed  the  dirt  from  their  eyes,  and  the  old  from 
their  spectacles.  One  brought  a  spy-glass,  another  an  iron  ladle ; 
some  wanted  to  melt  it,  others  to  hammer  it,  and  a  few  were 

335 


336  Slavery  and  the  West 

satisfied  with  smelling  it ...  while  a  gentleman  placed  the  speci 
men  on  the  top  of  his  gold-headed  cane  and  held  it  up,  chal 
lenging  the  sharpest  eyes  to  detect  a- difference.  But  doubts 
still  hovered  in  the  minds  of  the  great  mass.  They  could  not 
conceive  that  such  a  treasure  could  have  lain  there  so  long 
undiscovered.  The  idea  seemed  to  convict  them  of  stupidity. 
There  is  nothing  of  which  a  man  is  more  tenacious  thaR  his 
claims  to  sagacity.  .  .  . 

Tuesday,  June  20.  My  messenger  sent  to  the  mines  has  re 
turned  with  specimens  of  the  gold ;  he  dismounted  in  a  sea  of 
upturned  faces.  As  he  drew  forth  the  yellow  lumps  from  his 
pockets  and  passed  them  around  among  the  eager  crowd,  the 
doubts,  which  had  lingered  till  now,  fled.  All  admitted  they  were 
gold,  except  one  old  man,  who  still  persisted  they  were  some 
Yankee  invention,  got  up  to  reconcile  the  people  to  the  change 
of  flag.  The  excitement  produced  was  intense ;  and  many  were 
soon  busy  in  their  hasty  preparations  for  a  departure  to  the  mines. 
The  family  who  had  kept  house  for  me  caught  the  moving  in 
fection.  Husband  and  wife  were  both  packing  up ;  the  black 
smith  dropped  his  hammer,  the  carpenter  his  plane,  the  mason 
his  trowel,  the  farmer  his  sickle,  the  baker  his  loaf,  the  tapster  his 
bottle.  All  were  off  for  the  mines,  some  on  horses,  some  on 
carts,  and  some  on  crutches,  and  one  went  in  a  litter.  An  Amer 
ican  woman,  who  had  recently  established  a  boarding  house  here, 
pulled  up  stakes  and  was  off  before  her  lodgers  had  even  time 
to  pay  their  bills.  Debtors  ran,  of  course.  I  have  only  a  com 
munity  of  women  left,  and  a  gang  of  prisoners,  with  here  and 
there  a  soldier,  who  will  give  his  captain  the  slip  at  the  first 
chance.1  I  don't  blame  the  fellow  a  whit  1  seven  dollars  a  month, 
while  others  are  making  two  or  three  hundred  a  day !  that  is 
too  much  for  human  nature  to  stand. 

1  President  Polk  in  his  last  annual  message,  December  5,  1848,  said: 
"Nearly  the  whole  of  the  male  population  of  the  country  [California] 
have  gone  to  the  gold  districts.  Ships  arriving  at  the  coast  are  deserted 
by  their  crews  and  their  voyages  suspended  for  want  of  sailors.  Our 
commanding  officer  there  entertains  apprehensions  that  soldiers  cannot 
be  kept  in  the  public  service  without  a  large  increase  of  pay.  Deser 
tions  in  his  command  have  been  frequent." — Richardson,  Messages 
and  Papers,  Vol.  IV,  p.  636. 


The  Compromise  of  1850  337 

Tuesday,  July  18.  Another  bag  of  gold  from  the  mines,  and 
another  spasm  in  the  community.  It  was  brought  down  by  a 
sailor  from  Yuba  river,  and  contains  136  ounces.  It'  is  the 
most  beautiful  gold  that  has  appeared  in  the  market  ^  it  looks 
like  the  yellow  scales  of  the  dolphin,  passing  through  his  rain 
bow  hues  at  death.  My  carpenters  at  work  on  the  school-house, 
on  seeing  it,  threw  down  their  saws  and  planes,  shouldered  their 
picks,  and  are  off  for  the  Yuba.  Three  seamen  ran  from  the 
Warren,  forfeiting  their  four  years'  pay ;  and  a  whole  platoon 
of  soldiers  from  the  fort  left  only  their  colors  behind.1 

Thursday,  Aug.  16.  Four  citizens  of  Monterey  are  just  in 
from  the  gold  mines  on  Feather  River,  where  they  worked  in 
company  with  three  others.  They  employed  about  thirty  wild 
Indians.,  who  are  attached  to  the  rancho  owned  by  one  of  the 
party.  They  worked  precisely  seven  weeks  and  three  days,  and 
have  divided  $76,844  —  nearly  $11,000  to  each.  .  .  . 

Tuesday,  Aug.  28.  The  gold  mines  have  upset  all  social  and 
domestic  arrangements  in  Monterey ;  the  master  has  'become 
his  own  servant,  and  the  servant  his  own  lord.  .  .  .  Out  on  this 
yellow  dust !  it  is  worse  than  the  cinders  which  buried  Pompeii, 
for  there,  high  and  low  shared  the  same  fate ! 

Monday,  Oct.  2.  [After  a  horseback  journey  of  over  150 
miles  from  Monterey  to  the  gold  fields]  I  went  among  the  gold- 
diggers  ;  found  a  half  a  dozen  at  the  bottom  of  the  ravine,  tear 
ing  up  the  bogs  and  up  to  their  knees  in  mud.  Beneath  these 
bogs  lay  a  bed  of  clay,  sprinkled  in  spots  with  gold.  .  .  .  Not 
having  much  relish  for  the  bogs  and  mud,  I  procured  a  light 

1  "  San  Francisco  became  almost  deserted  by  man.  Stores  were 
closed,  places  of  business  vacated,  houses  left  tenantless.  ...  In  May 
the  Californian  and  in  June  the  Star  ceased  to  be  published.  Type 
setters,  pressmen,  and  printer's  devil  had  all  gone.  The  Town  Council 
held  no  sittings.  The  Church  was  closed.  The  Alcalde  was  nowhere  to 
be  found,  and  every  ship  that  came  was  deserted  by  her  crew  almost  as 
soon  as  she  dropped  anchor.  .  .  .  The  whole  country  from  San  Fran 
cisco  to  Los  Angeles  .  .  .  resounded  with  the  sordid  cry  of  Gold !  Gold ! 
Gold  !  while  fields  were  left  half  tilled,  houses  half  built,  and  every  in 
dustry  save  the  manufacture  of  picks  and  shovels  was  neglected."  — 
J.  B.  McMaster,  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  VII, 
P  586. 


338  Slavery  and  the  West 

crowbar  and  went  to  splitting  the  slate  rocks  which  project  into 
the  ravine.  I  found  between  the  layers,  which  were  not  per 
fectly  closed,  particles  of  gold,  resembling  in  shape  the  small 
and  delicate  scales  of  a  fish.  These  were  easily  scraped  from 
the  slate  by  a  hunter's  knife,  and  readily  separated  in  the  wash 
bowl  from  all  foreign  substances.  .  .  .  There  are  about  seventy 
persons  at  work  in  this  ravine,  and  all  within  a  few  yards  of 
each  other.  They  average  about  one  ounce  [worth  about  $20] 
per  diem  each.  They  who  get  less  are  discontented,  and  they 
who  get  more  are  not  satisfied.  Every  day  brings  in  some  fresh 
report  of  richer  discoveries  in  some  quarter  not  far  remote,  and 
the  diggers  are  consequently  kept  in  a  state  of  feverish  excite 
ment.  .  .  .  Such  is  human  nature ;  and  a  miserable  thing  it  is, 
too,  especially  when  touched  with  the  gold  fever.  .  .  . 

Monday,  Oct.  16.  I  encountered  this  morning  in  the  person 
of  a  Welshman,  a  pretty  marked  specimen  of  the  gold-digger. 
He  stood  some  six  feet  eight  in  his  shoes,  with  giant  limbs  and 
frame.  A  leather  strap  fastened  his  coarse  trousers  above  his 
hips,  and  confined  the  flowing  bunt  of  his  flannel  shirt.  A 
broad-rimmed  hat  sheltered  his  brawny  features,  while  his  un 
shorn  beard  and  hair  flowed  in  tangled  confusion  to  his  waist. 
To  his  back  was  lashed  a  blanket  and  a  bag  of  provisions ;  on 
one  shoulder  rested  a  huge  crowbar,  to  which  were  hung  a  gold- 
washer  and  a  skillet ;  on  the  other  rested  a  rifle,  a  spade,  a  pick, 
from  which  dangled  a  cup  and  a  pair  of  heavy  shoes.  He  recog 
nized  me  as  the  magistrate  who  had  once  arrested  him  for  a 
breach  of  the  peace.  "  Well,  Sefior  Alcalde,"  said  he,  "  I  am 
glad  to  see  you  in  these  diggings.  You  had  some  trouble  with 
me  in  Monterey ;  I  was  on  a  burster  [drunk] ;  you  did  your 
duty,  and  I  respect  you  for  it ;  and  now  let  me  settle  the  differ 
ence  between  us  with  a  bit  of  gold :  it  shall  be  the  first  I  strike 
under  this  bog."  ...  He  struck  a  layer  of  clay :  "  Here  she 
comes,"  he  ejaculated,  and  turned  out  a  piece  of  gold  that  would 
weigh  an  ounce  or  more.  "  There,"  said  he,  "  Sefior  Alcalde, 
accept  that;  and  when  you  reach  home  .  .  .  have  a  bracelet 
made  of  it  for  your  good  lady."  He  continued  to  dig  around 
the  same  place,  but  during  the  hour  I  remained  with  him,  found 
no  other  piece  of  gold  —  not  a  particle. 


The  Compromise  of  1850  339 

The  story  of  the  discovery  of  the  first  particles  of  gold 
by  James  A.  Marshall,  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  who  was 
in  the  employ  of  a  wealthy  Swiss-American  named  Sutter, 
who  had  lumber  mills  near  the  present  site  of  Sacramento 
City,  is  thus  told  by  Sutter  himself  : 

I  was  sitting  one  afternoon,  just  after  my  siesta,  engaged 
bye-the-bye  in  writing  a  letter  to  a  relation  of  mine  at  Lucerne, 
when  I  was  interrupted  by  Mr.  Marshall  —  a  gentleman  with 
whom  I  had  frequent  business  relations  —  bursting  hurriedly 
into  the  room.  From  the  unusual  agitation  in  his  manner  I  im 
agined  that  something  serious  had  occurred,  and,  as  we  involun 
tarily  do  in  this  part  of  the  world,  I  at  once  glanced  to  see  if 
my  rifle  was  in  its  proper  place.  You  must  know  that  the  mere 
appearance  of  Mr.  Marshall  at  that  moment  in  the  fort  was 
quite  enough  to  surprise  me,  as  he  had,  but  two  days  before, 
left  the  place  to  make  some  alterations  in  a  mill  for  sawing  pine 
planks,  which  he  had  just  run  up  for  me,  some  miles  higher  up 
the  Americanos  [American  Fork].  When  he  had  recovered  him 
self  a  little,  he  told  me  that  however  great  my  surprise  might 
be  at  his  unexpected  reappearance,  it  would  be  much  greater 
when  I  heard  the  intelligence  he  had  come  to  bring  me.  "  In 
telligence,"  he  added,  "which,  if  properly  profited  by,  would 
put  both  of  us  in  possession  of  unheard-of  wealth  —  millions 
and  millions  of  dollars,  in  fact."  I  frankly  own,  when  I  heard 
this  I  thought  something  had  touched  Marshall's  brain,  when 
suddenly  all  my  misgivings  were  put  an  end  to  by  his  flinging 
on  the  table  a  handful  of  scales  of  pure  virgin  gold.  I  was  fairly 
thunderstruck  and  asked  him  to  explain  what  all  this  meant, 
when  he  went  on  to  say,  that  according  to  my  instructions,  he 
had  thrown  the  mill-wheel  out  of  gear,  to  let  the  whole  body  of 
the  water  in  the  dam  find  a  passage  through  the  tail-race,  which 
was  previously  too  narrow  for  the  water  to  run  off  in  sufficient 
quantity.  ...  By  this  alteration  the  narrow  channel  was  con 
siderably  enlarged,  and  a  mass  of  sand  and  gravel  carried  off 
by  the  force  of  the  torrent.  Early  in  the  morning  after  this  took 
place,  he  —  Mr.  Marshall  —  was  walking  along  the  left  bank  of 


34°  Slavery  and  the  West 

the  stream,  when  he  perceived  something  which  he  at  first  took 
for  a  piece  of  opal  —  a  clear,  transparent  stone,  very  common 
here  —  glittering  on  one  of  the  spots  laid  bare  by  the  sudden 
crumbling  away  of  the  bank.  He  paid  no  attention  to  this  ;  but 
while  he  was  giving  directions  to  the  workmen,  having  observed 
several  similar  glittering  fragments,  his  curiosity  was  so  far  ex 
cited,  that  he  stooped  down  and  picked  one  of  them  up.  "  Do 
you  know,"  said  Marshall  to  me,  "  I  positively  debated  within 
myself  two  or  three  times,  whether  I  should  take  the  trouble  to 
oend  my  back  to  pick  up  one  of  the  pieces,  and  had  decided  on 
not  doing  so,  when,  further  on,  another  glittering  morsel  caught 
my  eye  —  the  largest  of  the  pieces  now  before  you.  .  .  ."  He 
then  gathered  some  twenty  or  thirty  similar  pieces.  .  .  .  He 
mounted  his  horse  and  rode  down  to  me  as  fast  as  it  would 
carry  him,  with  the  news.  ...  I  eagerly  inquired  if  he  had  shown 
the  gold  to  the  work-people  at  the  mill,  and  was  glad  to  hear  that 
he  had  not  spoken  to  a  single  person  about  it.  "  We  agreed,"  said 
the  captain  smiling,  "not  to  mention  the  circumstance  to  anyone, 
and  arranged  to  set  off  early  the  next  day  for  the  mill.  On  our 
arrival,  just  before  sun-down,  we  poked  the  sand  about  in  various 
places,  and  before  long  succeeded  in  collecting  between  us  more 
than  an  ounce  of  gold,  mixed  up  with  a  good  deal  of  sand.  .  .  . 
On  our  return  to  the  mill  we  were  astonished  by  the  work-people 
coming  up  to  us  in  a  body,  and  showing  us  small  flakes  of  gold. . . . 
Marshall  tried  to  laugh  the  matter  off  with  them,  and  to  persuade 
them  that  what  they  had  found  was  only  some  shining  mineral 
of  trifling  value  ;  but  one  of  the  Indians,  who  had  worked  at  the 
gold  mine  in  the  neighborhood  of  La  Paz,  in  Lower  California, 
cried  out  oro!  oro!  We  were  disappointed  enough,  and  supposed 
the  work-people  had  been  watching  our  movements,  although  we 
had  taken  every  precaution  against  being  observed  by  them." 


THE  OMNIBUS  BILL 

Probably  no  other  speech  ever  delivered  in  the  halls  of 
Congress  has  stirred  the  moral  feelings  of  our  country 
more  deeply  or  contributed  more  effectively  to  the  passage 


The  Compromise  of  l8$O  341 

of  a  great  piece  of  legislation  l  than  the  famous  seventh-of-  so.  icha- 
March  speech  of    Daniel  Webster  on    the    compromise  is  the 
^measures  of  1850.   the  corridors,  galleries,  antechambers,  glory?")» 

March  y, 

and  even  the  floor  of  the  Senate  were  packed  with  a  throng  1850 
eager  to  hear  the  foremost  American  orator  on  the  foremost      [289] 
issue  in  American  politics,  when  Webster  began  : 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  —  I  wish  to  speak  today,  not  as  a  Massa 
chusetts  man,  nor  as  a  Northern  man,  but  as  an  American,  and 
a  member  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  .  .  .  The  im 
prisoned  winds  are  let  loose.  The  East,  the  North,  and  the 
stormy  South  combine  to  throw  the  whole  sea  into  commotion, 
to  toss  its  billows  to  the  skies,  and  disclose  its  profoundest 
depths.  I  do  not  affect  to  regard  myself,  Mr.  President,  as  hold 
ing  or  as  fit  to  hold  the  helm  in  this  combat  with  the  political 
elements,  but  I  have  a  duty  to  perform,  and  I  mean  to  perform 
it  with  fidelity,  not  without  a  sense  of  existing  dangers,  but  not 
without  hope.  I  have  a  part  to  act,  not  for  my  own  security  and 
safety,  for  I  am  looking  out  for  no  fragment  upon  which  to  float 
away  from  the  wreck,  if  wreck  there  must  be,  but  for  the  good 
of  the  whole  and  the  preservation  of  all.  ...  I  speak  today  for 
the  preservation  of  the  Union.  "  Hear  me  for  my  cause.  .  .  ."  2 

1  "  Henry  Clay  had  thrown  himself  into  the  breach  [with  his  com 
promise  measures]  but  he  was  powerless  without  some  efficient  aid  from 
the  North.   The  leading  Southern  Whigs,  such  as  Magnum  and  Badger 
and  Dawson,  rallied  upon  Mr.  Webster,  seized  upon  him,  stuck  to  him, 
and  finally  brought  him  up  to  the  mark.    His  speech  on  the  seventh  of 
March  gave  a  new  impulse  to  the  compromise  movement,  and  the  whole 
country  felt  that  the  danger  was  substantially  past." — New  York  Herald, 
April  13,  1852. 

2  Webster  realized  that  his  plea  for  the  compromise  would  cause  him 
unpopularity.  In  the  dedication  of  his  speech  to  the  people  of  Massachu 
setts  he  wrote  :  His  ego  gratiora  dictti  alia  esse  scio;  sed  me  vera  pro  gratis 
loqui,  etsi  meum  ingenium  non  moneret,  necessitas  cogit.    Vellem  equidem 
vobis  placere ;  sed  multo  malo  vos  salvos  esse,  qualicumque  erga  me  animo 
futuri  estis  ["  I  am  aware  that  sentiments  different  from  these  would 
please  you  better ;  but  the  crisis  compels  me  to  prefer  truth  to  com 
plaisance,  and  thereto  wins  the  consent  of  my  whole  nature.    I  confess 
that  I  should  prefer  to  please  you ;  but  much  more  do  I  desire  to  see 
you' saved,  let  it  cost  me  what  it  will  in  your  good  opinion  "]. 


34 2  Slavery  and  the  West 

Now  as  to  California  and  New  Mexico,  I  hold  slavery  to  be 
excluded  from  those  territories  by  a  law  even  superior  to  that 
which  admits  and  sanctions  it  in  Texas.  I  mean  the  law  of 
nature,  of  physical  geography,  the  law  of  the  formation  of  the 
earth.  That  law  settles  forever,  with  a  strength  beyond  all  terms 
of  human  enactment,  that  slavery  cannot  exist  in  California  or 
New  Mexico.  .  .  .  They  are  composed  of  vast  ridges  of  moun 
tains,  of  great  height,  with  broken  ridges  and  deep  valleys.  The 
sides  of  these  mountains  are  entirely  barren ;  their  tops  capped 
by  perennial  snow.  .  .  .  There  are  some  narrow  strips  of  tilla 
ble  land  on  the  borders  of  the  rivers  ;  but  the  rivers  themselves 
dry  up  before  the  midsummer  is  gone.  \11  that  the  people  can 
do  in  that  region  is  to  raise  some  little  articles,  some  little  wheat 
for  their  tortillas  [flour  cakes],  and  that  by  irrigation.  And  who 
expects  to  see  a  hundred  black  men  cultivating  tobacco,  corn, 
cotton,  rice,  or  anything  else,  on  lands  in  New  Mexico,  made 
fertile  only  by  irrigation  ? 

I  look  upon  it,  therefore,  as  a  fixed  fact  .  .  .  that  both  Cali 
fornia  and  New  Mexico  are  destined  to  be  free,  so  far  as  they 
are  settled  at  all,  which,  I  believe,  in  regard  to  New  Mexico,  will 
be  but  partially  for  a  great  length  of  time ;  free  by  the  arrange 
ment  of  things  ordained  by  the  Power  above  us.  ...  And  I  will 
say  further,  that  if  a  resolution  or  bill  were  now  before  us  to  pro 
vide  a  territorial  government  for  New  Mexico,  I  would  not  vote 
to  put  any  prohibition  into  it  whatever  ...  I  would  not  take 
pains  uselessly  to  reaffirm  an  ordinance  of  nature,  nor  to  reenact 
the  will  of  God.  I  would  put  in  no  Wilmot  Proviso  for  the  mere 
purpose  of  a  taunt  or  a  reproach.  I  would  put  into  it  no  evidence 
of  the  votes  of  a  superior  [stronger]  power,  exercised  for  no  pur 
pose  but  to  wound  the  pride,  whether  a  just  and  rational  pride, 
or  an  irrational  pride,  of  the  citizens  of  the  Southern  States.  .  .  . 

Sir,  wherever  there  is  a  substantive  good  to  be  done,  wher 
ever  there  is  a  foot  of  land  to  be  prevented  from  becoming 
slave  territory,  I  am  ready  to  assert  the  principle  of  the  exclusion 
of  slavery.  I  am  pledged  to  it  from  the  year  1837 ;  I  have  been 
pledged  to  it  again  and  again * ;  and  I  will  perform  those  pledges  ; 

1  For  Webster's  position  in  1837  see  Muzzey,  An  American  History, 
p.  271.  In  a  speech  in  the  Senate,  August  12,  1848,  on  the  exclusion  of 


The  Compromise  of  l8$O  343 

but  I  will  not  do  a  thing  unnecessarily  that  wounds  the  feelings 
of  others,  or  that  does  discredit  to  my  own  understanding.  .  .  . 
Mr.  President,  in  the  excited  times  in  which  we  live,  there  is 
found  to  exist  a  state  of  crimination  and  recrimination  between 
the  North  and  South.  There  are  lists  of  grievances  produced  by 
each ;  and  those  grievances,  real  or  supposed,  alienate  the  minds 
of  one  portion  of  the  country  from  the  other,  exasperate  the  feel 
ings,  and  subdue  the  sense  of  fraternal  affection,  patriotic  love, 
and  mutual  regard.  ...  I  hear  with  distress  and  anguish  the 
word  "  secession  "  ;  especially  when  it  falls  from  the  lips  of  those 
who  are  patriotic,  and  known  to  the  country  and  known  all 
over  the  world  for  their  political  services.  Secession !  Peaceable 
secession !  Sir,  your  eyes  and  mine  are  never  destined  to  see 
that  miracle !  The  dismemberment  of  this  vast  country  without 
convulsion  !  The  breaking  up  of  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep 
without  ruffling  the  surface !  .  .  .  Sir,  he  who  sees  these  States 
now  revolving  in  harmony  around  a  common  center,  and  expects 
to  see  them  quit  their  places  and  fly  off  without  convulsion,  may 
look  the  next  hour  to  see  the  heavenly  bodies  rush  from  their 
spheres,  and  jostle  against  each  other  in  the  realms  of  space, 
without  causing  the  wreck  of  the  universe.  .  .  .  No,  Sir !  No, 
Sir !  I  will  not  state  what  might  produce  the  disruption  of  the 
Union ;  but,  Sir,  I  see  as  plainly  as  the  sun  in  heaven  what  that 
disruption  itself  must  produce ;  I  see  that  it  must  produce  war, 
and  such  a  war  as  I  will  not  describe,  in  its  twofold  character. 
.  .  .  No,  Sir  1  There  will  be  no  secession !  Gentlemen  are  not 
serious  when  they  talk  of  secession. 

slavery  from  the  territories,  Webster  said  :  "  .  .  .  The  prevailing  motives 
with  the  North  for  agreeing  to  the  recognition  [by  the  Constitution]  of 
slavery  in  the  Southern  States  .  .  .  rested  upon  the  supposition  that  no 
acquisition  of  territory  would  be  made  to  form  new  States  on  the  south 
ern  frontier  of  this  country,  either  by  cession  or  conquest.  ...  I  have 
said  that  I  shall  consent  to  no  extension  of  the  area  of  slavery  upon  this 
continent,  nor  to  any  increase  of  slave  representation  in  the  other  House 
of  Congress.  I  have  now  stated  my  reasons  for  my  conduct  and  my 
vote.  We  of  the  North  have  already  gone,  in  this  respect,  far  beyond 
all  that  any  Southern  man  could  have  expected,  or  did  expect,  at  the 
time  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution."  —  Writings  and  Speeches  of 
Daniel  Webster,  National  Edition,  Vol.  X,  pp.  37,  43. 


344  Slavery  and  the  West 

Never  did  there  devolve  on  any  generation  of  men  higher 
trusts  than  now  devolve  upon  us,  for  the  preservation  of  this 
Constitution  and  the  harmony  and  peace  of  all  who  are  destined 
to  live  under  it.  Let  us  make  our  generation  one  of  the  strongest 
and  brightest  links  in  that  golden  chain  which  is  destined,  I  fondly 
believe,  to  grapple  the  people  of  all  the  States  to  this  Constitu 
tion  for  ages  to  come.  We  have  a  great,  popular,  constitutional 
government,  guarded  by  law  and  by  judicature,  and  defended  by 
the  affections  of  the  whole  people.  No  monarchical  throne  presses 
these  States  together,  no  iron  chain  of  military  power  encircles 
them ;  they  live  and  stand  under  a  government  popular  in  its 
form,  representative  in  its  character,  founded  upon  principles  of 
equality,  and  so  constructed,  we  hope,  as  to  last  forever.  In  all 
its  history  it  has  been  beneficent ;  it  has  trodden  down  no  man's 
liberty ;  it  has  crushed  no  State.  Its  daily  respiration  is  liberty 
and  patriotism ;  its  yet  youthful  veins  are  full  of  enterprise, 
courage,  and  honorable  love  of  glory  and  renown.  J  Large  before, 
the  country  has  now,  by  recent  events,  become  vastly  larger. 
This  republic  now  extends,  with  a  vast  breadth,  across  the  whole 
continent.  The  two  great  seas  of  the  world  wash  the  one  and 
the  other  shore.  We  realize  on  a  mighty  scale  the  beautiful  de 
scription  of  the  ornamental  border  of  the  buckler  of  Achilles  :  — 

Now,  the  broad  shield  complete,  the  artist  crowned 
With  his  last  hand,  and  poured  the  ocean  round ; 
In  living  silver  seemed  the  waves  to  roll, 
And  beat  the  buckler's  verge,  and  bound  the  whole. 

In  spite  of  his  magnificent  eloquence  Webster  could 
not  commend  his  compromise  policy  to  his  Massachusetts 
constituency.  A  member  of  the  legislature  called  him  "a 
recreant  son  of  Massachusetts,  who  misrepresented  her  in 
the  senate."  Theodore  Parker  compared  him  to  Benedict 
Arnold,  and  declared  later,  in  a  sermon,  that  "  not  a  hun 
dred  prominent  men  in  all  New  England  acceded  to  the 
speech."  A  mass  meeting  in  Faneuil  Hall,  "  the  cradle  of 
Liberty,"  passed  resolutions  of  censure  on  the  speech.  And 


The  Compromise  of  l8$O  345 

John  Greenleaf  Whittier,  the  abolitionist  poet,  following  the 
example  of  the  stern  Hebrew  prophets,  baptized  Webster 
with  the  significant  name  Ichabod  ("  where  is  the  glory?"). 

So  fallen  !  so  lost  1  the  light  withdrawn 

Which  once  he  wore  ! 
The  glory  from  his  grey  hairs  gone 

Forevermore ! 

Revile  him  not  —  the  Tempter  hath 

A  snare  for  all ; 
And  pitying  tears,  not  scorn 'and  wrath 

Befit  his  fall ! 

Oh !  dumb  be  passion's  stormy  rage, 

When  he  who  might 
Have  lighted  up  and  led  his  age 

Falls  back  in  night. 

Scorn !    Would  the  angels  laugh,  to  mark 

A  bright  soul  driven, 
Fiend-goaded,  down  the  endless  dark, 

From  hope  and  heaven  ! 

Let  not  the  land  once  proud  of  him 

Insult  him  now, 
Nor  brand  with  deeper  shame  his  dim, 

Dishonored  brow. 

But  let  its  humbled  sons,  instead, 

From  sea  to  lake, 
A  long  lament,  as  for  the  dead, 

In  sadness  make. 

Of  all  we  loved  and  honored,  naught 

Save  power  remains  — 
A  fallen  angel's  pride  of  thought, 

Still  strong  in  chains. 


346  Slavery  and  the  West 

All  else  is  gone ;  from  those  great  eyes 

The  soul  has  fled  : 
When  faith  is  lost,  when  honor  dies, 

The  man  is  dead  1 

Then,  pay  the  reverence  of  old  days 

To  his  dead  fame  ; 
Walk  backward,  with  averted  gaze, 

And  hide  the  shame  ! 


THE  FOUR  YEARS'  TRUCE 
si.  These-        When  Daniel  Webster  exclaimed:   "No,  Sir!  There 

cession  move-      -\\    \  i     r*      ^  •  i 

ment  of  1850  W1^  ®e  no  secession !  Gentlemen  are  not  serious  when 
[292]  they  talk  of  secession  "  he  was  indulging  in  the  extrava 
gant  optimism  of  the  orator.  On  the  very  day  before  he 
delivered  his  speech,  the  legislature  of  the  state  of  Mis 
sissippi  sent  out  the  following  long-premeditated  call  for 
a  Southern  convention  to  be  held  at  Nashville,  Tennessee, 
to  consider  the  feasibility  of  remaining  longer  in  the  Union.1 

We  have  arrived  at  a  period  in  the  political  existence  of  our 
country,  when  the  fears  of  the  patriot  and  philanthropist  may 
well  be  excited,  lest  the  noblest  fabric  of  constitutional  govern 
ment  on  earth  may,  ere  long,  be  laid  in  ruins  by  the  element  of 
discord,  engendered  by  an  unholy  lust  for  power,  and  the  fell 
spirit  of  fanaticism  [abolitionists]  acting  upon  the  minds  of  our 
bretheren  of  the  non-slave-holding  States.  .  .  .  The  fact  can  no 
longer  be  disguised,  that  our  bretheren  of  the  free  States,  so- 
called,  disregarding  the  compromises  of  the  Constitution  —  com 
promises  without  which  it  would  never  have  received  the  sanction 

1  Daniel  Webster  knew  of  the  projected  convention,  and  in  the 
same  seventh-of-March  speech  said :  "  Sir,  I  hear  that  there  is  to  be  a  con 
vention  held  at  Nashville  "  ;  and  gave  solemn  warning  to  "  any  persons 
who  [shall]  meet  at  Nashville  for  the  purpose  of  concerting  measures 
for  the  overthrow  of  this  Union,  over  the  bones  of  Andrew  Jackson !  " 
—  Writings  and  Speeches  of  Daniel  Webster,  Vol.  X,  p.  95. 


The  Compromise  of  l8$O  347 

of  the  slave-holding  States,  are  determined  to  pursue  towards 
those  States  a  course  of  policy,  and  to  adopt  a  system  of  legis 
lation  by  Congress,  destructive  of  their  best  rights  and  most 
cherished  domestic  institutions.  In  vain  have  the  citizens  of  the 
Slave  States  appealed  to  their  bretheren  of  the  free  States  in  a 
spirit  of  brotherly  love  and  devotion  to  that  Constitution  framed 
by  our  fathers  and  cemented  by  their  blood.  .  .  .  The  spirit  of 
forbearance  and  concession,  which  has  been  for  more  than  thirty 
years  manifested  and  acted  upon  by  the  slave-holding  States, 
has  but  strengthened  the  determination  of  their  Northern  breth 
eren,  to  fasten  upon  them  a  system  of  legislation  in  regard  to 
their  peculiar  domestic  institutions  .  .  .  fatal  in  its  effects.  .  .  . 

Slavery  as  it  exists  in  the  Southern  States  ...  is  not  a  moral 
or  political  evil,  but  an  element  of  prosperity  and  happiness  both 
to  the  master  and  slave. 

Abolish  slavery,  and  you  convert  the  fair  and  blooming  fields 
of  the  South  into  barren  heaths  ;  their  high-souled  and  chivalrous 
proprietors  into  abject  dependents  —  and  the  now  happy  and 
contented  slaves  into  squalid  and  degraded  objects  of  misery 
and  wretchedness ! 

The  Southern  States  have  remonstrated  and  forborne,  until 
forbearance  is  no  longer  a  virtue.  The  time  has  arrived  when, 
if  they  hope  to  preserve  their  existence  as  equal  members  of 
the  Confederacy,  .  .  .  they  must  prepare  to  act  —  to  act  with 
resolution,  firmness,  and  unity  of  purpose,  trusting  to  the  right 
eousness  of  their  cause,  and  the  protection  of  the  Almighty 
Ruler  of  the  destinies  of  nations,  who  ever  looks  benignently 
upon  the  exertions  of  those  who  contend  for  the  prerogatives 
of  freemen ;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Mississippi, 

That  they  cordially  approve  of  the  action  of  the  Southern  State 
Convention  held  at  the  city  of  Jackson  [Mississippi]  on  the  first 
Monday  of  October,  1849,  and  adopt  the  following  resolutions 
of  said  body.  .  .  . 

[Then  follow  thirteen  resolutions  protesting  against  any  at 
tempt  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  or  to  exclude 
it  from  the  land  ceded  by  Mexico  in  1848  ;  and  declaring  their 


348  Slavery  and  the  West 

purpose  "  to  stand  by  their  Sister  States  of  the  South  in  what 
ever  course  of  action  may  be  determined."] 

This  movement  for  the  vigorous  assertion  of  Southern 
rights  did  not  originate  in  Mississippi.  On  the  meeting 
of  Congress  immediately  after  the  election  of  Taylor 
(December,  1848),  a  caucus  of  sixty-nine  Southern  repre 
sentatives  and  senators  met  and  issued  an  address  to  their 
states  urging  the  solid  resistance  of  the  South  to  any  at 
tempt  of  the  administration  to  force  the  Wilmot  Proviso 
on  the  new  territory.  John  C.  Calhoun,  the  author  of  the 
address,  was  the  leader  of  this  movement  for  a  Southern 
party,  transcending  the  old  dividing  lines  of  Whig  and 
Democrat.  The  following  extracts  are  from  Calhoun's 
correspondence : 

(a) 

TO  C.  S.  TARPLEY  OF  MISSISSIPPI,  JULY  9,  1849 

DEAR  SIR  : 

I  am  greatly  obliged  to  you  for  a  copy  of  the  proceeds  of 
your  meeting.  I  have  read  it  with  a  great  deal  of  pleasure. 
You  ask  me  for  my  opinion  as  to  the  course  which  should  be 
adopted  by  the  State  Convention  in  October  next.  I  have  de 
layed  answering  your  letter  until  this  time,  that  I  might  more 
fully  notice  the  developments  at  the  North  before  I  gave  it. 
They  are  more  and  more  adverse  to  us  every  day.  There  has 
not  been  a  single  occurrence  since  the  rising  [adjournment]  of 
Congress,  which  does  not  indicate  on  the  part  of  the  North 
a  fixed  determination  to  push  the  abolition  question  to  the 
last  extreme. 

In  my  opinion  there  is  but  one  thing  that  holds  out  the 
promise  of  saving  both  ourselves  and  the  Union,  and  that  is 
a  Southern  Convention ;  and  that,  if  much  longer  delayed, 
cannot.  It  ought  to  have  been  held  this  fall,  and  ought  not 
to  be  delayed  beyond  another  year.  All  our  movements  ought 
to  look  to  that  result.  For  that  purpose  every  Southern  State 


The  Compromise  of  l8$O  349 

ought  to  be  organized  with  a  central  committee,  and  one  in 
each  county.  Ours  [South  Carolina]  is  already.  It  is  indispen 
sable  to  produce  concert  and  prompt  action.  In  the  mean  time, 
firm  and  resolute  resolutions  ought  to  be  adopted  by  yours,  and 
such  meetings  as  may  take  place  before  the  assembling  of  the 
Legislatures  in  the  fall.  They,  when  they  meet,  ought  to  take 
up  the  subject  in  the  most  solemn  and  impressive  manner. 

The  great  object  of  a  Southern  Convention  should  be  to  put 
forth,  in  a  solemn  manner,  the  subject  of  our  grievances,  in  an 
address  to  the  other  States,  and  to  admonish  them,  in  a  solemn 
manner,  as  to  the  consequences  which  must  follow,  if  they 
should  not  be  redressed,  and  to  take  measures  preparatory  to 
it,  in  case  they  should  not  be.  The  call  should  be  addressed  to 
all  those  who  are  desirous  to  save  the  Union  and  our  institutions, 
and  who,  in  the  alternative,  should  it  be  forced  upon  us,  of  sub 
mission  or  dissolving  the  partnership,  would  prefer  the  latter. 

No  State  could  better  take  the  lead  in  this  great  r^servative 
movement  than  yours.  It  is  destined  to  be  the  greatest  of  suf 
ferers  if  the  Abolitionists  should  succeed ;  and  I  am  not  certain 
but  by  the  time  your  convention  meets,  or  at  furthest  your 
Legislature,  the  time  will  have  come  to  make  the  call. 
With  great  respect,  I  am  etc. 

John  C.  Calhoun 

<*) 

TO  JAMES  H.  HAMMOND,!  FEBRUARY  14,  1849- 

DECEMBER  7,  1849 
MY  DEAR  SIR: 

...  I  enclosed  you  a  copy  of  our  Address,  which  I  hope  you 
have  received,  and  that  it  meets  your  approbation.  I  trust  it 
will  do  something  to  Unite  the  South,  and  to  prepare  our  people 
to  meet  and  repel  effectually  and  forever  the  aggressions  of  the 
North.  .  .  .  Now  is  the  time  to  vindicate  our  rights.  We  ought 
rather  than  to  yield  an  inch,  take  any  alternative,  even  if  it 
should  be  disunion,  and  I  trust  that  such  will  be  the  deter 
mination  of  the  South. 

1  Governor  of  South  Carolina  1842-1844  and  United  States  senator 
1857-1860;  an  ardent  advocate  of  negro  slavery  as  the  "mud-sill"  on 
which  the  edifice  of  civilization  rested. 


35°  Slavery  and  the  West 

MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

I  would  regard  the  failure  of  the  Convention,  called  by  Mis 
sissippi,  to  meet,  from  the  want  of  endorsement  by  the  other 
Southern  States  to  be  a  great  if  not  fatal  misfortune.1  It  would 
be  difficult  to  make  another  effort  to  rally,  and  the  North  would 
consider  it  as  conclusive  evidence  of  our  division  or  indifference 
to  our  fate.  The  moment  is  critical.  Events  may  now  be  con 
trolled  ;  but  it  will  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible  to  control  their 
course  hereafter.  This  is  destined  to  be  no  ordinary  session.2 
We  shall  need  the  backing  of  our  constituents  :  and  the  most 
effectual  we  can  have  would  be  the  endorsement  by  the  other 
Southern  States  of  the  Mississippi  Call.  .  .  . 


FROM  JAMES  H.  HAMMOND,  MARCH  5,  1850 

MY  DEAR  SIR: 

I  am  greatly  rejoiced  to  hear  of  your  improved  health  and 
by  the  Telegraph  that  you  were  in  the  senate  day  before  yester 
day.  ...  If  I  may  judge  of  your  views  by  the  three  or  four 
sentences  which  the  Telegraph  devotes  to  your  speech  on  Mon 
day,3  I  should  regard  your  retirement  at  this  moment  as  a 
peculiar  calamity  to  the  South.  ...  I  have  no  sort  of  faith  with 
any  Constitutional  Compacts  with  the  North.  She  never  has 

1  Nine  Southern  states  heeded  the  Mississippi  call,  and  sent  one  hun 
dred  and  seventy-five  delegates  to  Nashville  in  June,  1850,  who  published 
a  strong  set  of  resolutions  and  adjourned  till  the  end  of  the  session  of 
Congress,  meanwhile  inviting  all  the  Southern  states  to  complete  their 
delegations.   But  when  the  second  session  met  (November,  1850),  Presi 
dent  Taylor  was  dead,  the  danger  of  the  Northern  Whigs  forcing  the 
Wilmot    Proviso    through  was    over,  the    compromise    measures   had 
passed  Congress,  and  the  Southern  Whigs  were  already  at  work  en 
couraging  Union  sentiment  in  the   South   on  the  basis  of  the  com 
promise.  Only  seventy  members  attended  the  Nashville  meeting,  where 
they  affirmed  the  right  of  a  state  to  secede  from  the  Union,  and  called 
for  a  general  congress  of  Southern  states. 

2  The  3ist  Congress,  which  met  in  December,  1849.    See  Muzzey, 
An  American  History,  p.  287. 

8  Calhoun's  famous  fourth-of-  March  speech  on  the  Compromise  of 
1850.  See  Muzzey,  An  American  History,  p.  289. 


The  Compromise  of  1850  3  5 1 

regarded  them  and  never  will.  On  mere  Legislative  Compro 
mises  I  look  with  horror.  They  are  the  apples  of  Hippomenes 
cast  behind  him  in  the  race.  Our  only  safety  is  in  equality  of 
POWER.  We  must  divide  the  territory  so  as  forever  to  retain 
that  equality  in  the  Senate  at  least,  and  in  doing  so  we  should 
count  Delaware  with  the  North.  She  is  no  Southern  or  Slave 
State.  I  would  infinitely  prefer  disunion  to  anything  the  least 
short  of  this  —  and  I  would  rather  have  it  I  believe  anyhow 
for  fear  of  future  Clays,  Bentons,  Houstons  and  Bells.  If  the 
North  will  not  consent  to  this  [division  of  territory]  I  think  we 
should  not  have  another  word  to  say,  but  kick  them  out  of  the 
Capitol  and  set  it  on  fire.  We  must  act  now  and  decisively.  We 
will  be  in  a  clear  minority  when  California  comes  in,  and  in 
twenty  or  thirty  years  there  will  be  ten  more  free  States  West 
of  the  Mississippi  and  ten  more  North  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
the  Lakes.  England  would  gladly  surrender  Canada  to  us  now, 
if  she  had  a  decent  pretext  that  would  serve  her  pride.  Long  be 
fore  the  North  gets  this  vast  accession  of  strength  she  will  ride 
over  us  rough  shod,  proclaim  freedom  or  something  equivalent 
to  it  to  our  Slaves,  and  reduce  us  to  the  condition  of  Hayti. .  . . 
Do  write  me  as  fully  as  you  can.  I  think  the  Atlantic  and 
Gulf  States  are  by  an  immense  majority  ready  for  anything, 
and  less  patient  than  their  leaders.  Six  months  has  produced 
an  immense  change  and  it  is  going  on  rapidly.  If  the  leaders 
will  only  lead,  neither  they  nor  we  have  anything  to  fear. 

Yours  Sincerely, 

J.  H.  Hammond 

The  six  months  following  Hammond's  letter  saw 
another  "immense  change"  in  the  South.  The  tide  of 
disunion  sentiment,  which  was  at  its  full  in  the  early 
summer  of  1850,  began  to  recede.  The  death  of  Presi 
dent  Taylor  in  July  and  the  passage  of  the  compromise 
measures  in  September  gave  the  Union  men  of  the  South 
a  basis  on  which  to  make  a  final  appeal  for  harmony. 
Although  Governor  Quitman  of  Mississippi  and  Governor 
Seabrook  of  South  Carolina  were  still  in  favor  of  a  policy 


3  5  2  Slavery  and  the  West 

of  defiance  and  separation,1  the  other  states  of  the  South 
accepted  the  compromise.  Georgia  led  the  way  with  her 
great  trio  of  Unionist  congressmen  —  Toombs,  Cobb,  and 
Stephens  —  and  the  "Georgia  Platform"  adopted  by  a 
vote  of  237  to  19,  in  December,  1850,  was  quite  generally 
indorsed  by  the  slaveholding  states. 

.  .  .  To  the  end,  therefore  that  the  position  of  this  State  may 
be  clearly  apprehended  by  her  confederates  of  the  South  and 
of  the  North,  and  that  she  may  be  blameless  of  all  future 
consequences, 

Be  it  resolved  by  the  people  of  Georgia  in  Convention  assembled, 

First:  That  we  hold  the  American  Union  secondary  in  im 
portance  only  to  the  rights  and  principles  which  it  was  designed 
to  perpetuate.  .  .  . 

Secondly  :  That  if  the  thirteen  original  parties  to  the  contract 
bordering  on  the  Atlantic,  in  the  narrow  belt,  while  their  separate 
interests  were  in  embryo,  their  peculiar  tendencies  scarcely  devel 
oped,  their  revolutionary  trials  and  triumphs  still  green  in  memory, 
found  Union  impossible  without  compromise,  the  thirty-one  of 
this  day  may  well  yield  some\vhat,  in  the  conflict  of  opinion  and 
policy,  to  preserve  that  Union  which  has  extended  the  sway  of 
republican  government  over  a  vast  wilderness,  to  another  ocean, 
and  proportionally  advanced  civilization  and  national  greatness. 

Thirdly :  That  in  this  spirit,  the  State  of  Georgia  has  maturely 
considered  the  action  of  Congress  embracing  a  series  of  meas 
ures  [the  compromise  acts  of  September,  1850]  .  .  .  and  while 
she  does  not  wholly  approve,  will  abide  by  it  as  a  permanent 
adjustment  of  this  sectional  controversy.  .  .  . 

1  South  Carolina  went  far.  Her  governor  (Seabrook),  in  his  message 
of  November  26,  asserted  the  right  of  secession,  and  declared  that  the 
time  had  arrived  "  to  resume  the  exercise  of  the  powers  of  self- 
protection."  The  legislature  recommended  the  convocation  of  a  meet 
ing  of  delegates  of  the  Southern  states,  with  full  powers  to  act  on  the 
question  of  secession,  provided  for  a  state  convention  to  assemble  at 
the  governor's  call  for  the  same  purpose,  and  appropriated  $350,000  for 
the  defense  of  the  state  (December  20,  1850.  Compare  the  events  of 
December  20,  1860). 


The  Compromise  of  1850  353 

Fifthly :  That  it  is  the  deliberate  opinion  of  this  Convention 
that  upon  the  faithful  execution  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  by 
the  proper  authorities  depends  the  preservation  of  our  much 
loved  Union. 

The  following  remarkably  impudent  document,  advising  82.  The 
the  virtual  robbery  of  Cuba  from  Spain,  is  a  joint  report  ifesto,  Qcto- 
sent  to  our  State  Department  by  three  United  States  minis-  ber  I8»  l854 
ters  at  European  courts.  The  ministers  had  been  appointed 
by  President  Pierce,  with  an  eye  to  facilitating  the  acquisi 
tion  of  Cuba  and  so  extending  the  slave  area  of  the  South.1 
They  were  :  for  England,  James  Buchanan,  who  as  Secre 
tary  of  State  under  Polk  had  offered  Spain  $100,000,000 
for  the  island  ;  for  Spain,  Pierre  Soule,  who  believed  in 
simply  taking  Cuba  by  force ;  and,  for  France,  John  Y. 
Mason,  whose  only  very  determined  political  conviction 
was  hatred  for  the  abolitionists.  Our  Secretary  of  State, 
Marcy,  disowned  the  preposterous  language  of  the  Mani 
festo,  and  instructed  its  chief  author,  Soule,  that  there 
should  be  no  attempt  to  coerce  Spain  to  part  with  Cuba. 
Soule's  resignation  closed  the  incident. 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  Oct.  18,  1854 

The  undersigned,  in  compliance  with  the  wish  expressed  by 
the  President  in  several  confidential  despatches  you  have  ad 
dressed  to  us,  respectively,  to  that  effect,  have  met  in  confer 
ence,  first  at  Ostend  in  Belgium,  on  the  9th,  ioth,  and  i  ith  instant, 
and  then  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  Prussia,  on  the  days  next  follow 
ing,  up  to  the  date  hereof. 

There  has  been  a  full  and  unreserved  interchange  of  views 
and  sentiments  between  us,  which  we  are  most  happy  to  inform 

1  Buchanan  had  written  to  President-elect  Pierce  in  December,  1852  : 
M  Should  you  desire  to  acquire  Cuba,  the  choice  of  suitable  ministers 
to  Spain,  Naples,  England,  and  France  will  be  very  important." — - 
Curtis,  Life  of  James  Buchanan,  Vol.  II,  p.  73. 


354  Slavery  and  the  West 

you  has  resulted  in  a  cordial  coincidence  of  opinion  on  the  grave 
and  important  subjects  committed  to  our  consideration. 

We  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion,  and  are  thoroughly  con 
vinced,  that  an  immediate  and  earnest  effort  ought  to  be  made 
by  the  government  of  the  United  States  to  purchase  Cuba  from 
Spain  at  any  price  for  which  it  can  be  obtained,  not  exceeding 
the  sum  of  $ .  .  .  . 

The  natural  and  main  outlet  to  the  products  of  this  entire 
population  [the  Mississippi  valley],  the  highway  of  their  direct 
intercourse  with  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  States,  can  never  be 
secure,  but  must  ever  be  endangered  whilst  Cuba  is  a  depend 
ency  of  a  distant  power  in  whose  possession  it  has  proved  to 
be  a  source  of  constant  annoyance  and  embarrassment  to  their 
interests. 

Indeed,  the  Union  can  never  enjoy  repose,  nor  possess  reli 
able  security,  as  long  as  Cuba  is  not  embraced  within  its  bound 
aries.  Its  immediate  acquisition  by  our  government  is  of 
paramount  importance,  and  we  cannot  doubt  but  that  it  is  a 
consummation  devoutly  wished  for  by  its  inhabitants. 

The  intercourse  which  its  proximity  to  our  coasts  begets  and 
encourages  between  them  and  the  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
has,  in  the  progress  of  time,  so  united  their  interests  and  blended 
their  fortunes  that  they  look  now  upon  each  other  as  if  they 
were  one  people  and  had  but  one  destiny.  Considerations  exist 
which  render  delay  in  the  acquisition  of  this  island  exceedingly 
dangerous  to  the  United  States. 

The  system  of  immigration  and  labor  lately  organized  within 
its  limits,  and  the  tyranny  and  oppression  which  characterize  its 
immediate  rulers,  threaten  an  insurrection  at  every  moment 
which  may  result  in  direful  consequences  to  the  American 
people.  Cuba  has  thus  become  to  us  an  unceasing  danger, 
and  a  permanent  cause  of  anxiety  and  alarm.1  .  .  . 

1  The  fear  of  the  emancipation  of  the  negroes  in  Cuba  and  their 
rising  in  force  against  the  whites  to  make  a  "  black  republic,"  as  in 
Haiti,  was  ever  before  the  minds  of  the  slaveholder  in  the  Southern 
states.  Soule  in  a  speech  in  January,  1853,  had  quoted  Lord  Palmerston, 
the  British  foreign  secretary,  that  "  if  the  negro  population  of  Cuba 
were  rendered  free,  that  fact  would  create  a  most  powerful  element  of 


The  Compromise  of  lS$O  355 

Should  Spain  reject  the  present  golden  opportunity  [of  the 
offer  for  Cuba]  for  developing  her  resources,  and  removing  her 
financial  embarrassments,  it  may  never  return  again. 

Cuba  in  its  palmiest  days,  never  yielded  her  exchequer,  after 
deducting  the  expenses  of  its  government,  a  clear  annual  income 
of  more  than  a  million  and  a  half  of  dollars.  .  .  .  Under  no 
probable  circumstances  can  Cuba  ever  yield  to  Spain  one  per 
cent,  on  the  large  amount  which  the  United  States  are  willing 
to  pay  for  its  acquisition.  Bu'  Spain  is  in  imminent  danger  of 
losing  Cuba,  without  remuneration.  .  .  . 

We  know  that  the  President  is  justly  inflexible  in  his  deter 
mination  to  execute  the  neutrality  laws  ;  but  should  the  Cubans 
themselves  rise  in  revolt  against  the  oppression  which  they  suffer, 
no  human  power  could  prevent  citizens  of  the  United  States 
and  liberal  minded  men  of  other  countries  from  rushing  to  their 
assistance.  Besides,  the  present  is  an  age  of  adventure,  in 'which 
daring  and  restless  spirits  abound  in  every  portion  of  the  world. 

It  is  not  improbable,  then,  that  Cuba  may  be  wrested  from 
Spain  by  a  successful  revolution  ;  and  in  that  event  she  will  lose 
both  the  island  and  the  price  which  we  are  now  willing  to  pay 
for  it ;  a  price  far  beyond  what  was  ever  paid  by  one  people  to 
another  for  any  province.  .  .  . 

'  But  if  Spain,  dead  to  the  voice  of  her  own  interest,  and  actu 
ated  by  stubborn  pride  and  a  false  sense  of  honor,  should  refuse 
to  sell  Cuba  to  the  United  States,  then  the  question  will  arise, 
What  ought  to  be  the  course  of  the  American  government 
under  such  circumstances?  Self-preservation  is  the  first  law 
of  nature  with  States  as  well  as  with  individuals.  .  .  .  The 
United  States  have  never  acquired  a  foot  of  territory  except 
by  fair  purchase  or,  as  in  the  case  of  Texas,  upon  the  free  and 
voluntary  application  of  the  people  of  that  independent  State, 
who  desired  to  blend  their  destinies  with  our  own.  .  .  . 

Our  past  history  forbids  that  we  should  acquire  the  island  of 
Cuba  without  the  consent  of  Spain,  unless  justified  by  the  great 
law  of  self-preservation.  .  .  . 

resistance  to  any  scheme  for  annexing  Cuba  to  the  United  States, 
where  slavery  exists." —  Congressional  Globe,  320!  Congress,  2d  session, 
Vol.  XXVII,  p.i  18. 


356  Slavery  and  the  West 

After  we  shall  have  offered  Spain  a  price  for  Cuba  far  be 
yond  its  present  value,  and  this  shall  have  been  refused,  it  will 
then  be  time  to  consider  the  question,  Does  Cuba,  in  the  pos 
session  of  Spain,  seriously  endanger  our  internal  peace  and  the 
existence  of  our  cherished  Union  ? 

Should  this  question  be  answered  in  the  affirmative,  then,  by 
every  law,  human  and  divine,  we  shall  be  justified  in  wresting 
it  from  Spain,  if  we  possess  the  power;  and  this  upon  the  very 
same  principle  that  would  justify  an  individual  in  tearing  down 
the  burning  house  of  his  neighbor  if  there  were  no  other  means 
of  preventing  the  flames  from  destroying  his  own  home.  .  .  . 

We  should  be  recreant  to  our  duty,  be  unworthy  of  our  gal 
lant  forefathers,  and  commit  base  treason  against  our  posterity, 
should  we  permit  Cuba  to  be  Africanized  and  become  a  second 
San  Domingo,  with  all  its  attendant  horrors  to  the  white  race, 
and  suffer  the  flames  to  extend  to  our  neighboring  shores, 
seriously  to  endanger  or  actually  to  consume  the  fair  fabric  of 
our  Union.  .  .  . 

Our  recommendations,  now  submitted,  are  dictated  by  the 
firm  belief  that  the  cession  of  Cuba  to  the  United  States,  with 
stipulations  as  beneficial  to  Spain  as  those  suggested,  is  the 
only  effective  mode  of  settling  all  past  differences  and  of  secur 
ing  the  two  countries  against  future  collisions.  / 

We  have  already  witnessed  the  happy  result  for  both  coun 
tries  which  followed  a  similar  arrangement  in  regard  to  Florida. 
Yours,  very  respectfully 

James  Buchanan 
J.  Y.  Mason 
Pierre  Soule 

Hon.  Wm.  Marcy,  Secretary  of  State 


PART  VI.   THE  CRISIS  OF  DISUNION 


PART  VI.    THE  CRISIS  OF 
DISUNION 

CHAPTER  XIV 

APPROACHING  THE  CRISIS 

THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE  AND  THE 
FORMATION  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY 

The  cession  of  vast  regions  to  the  United  States  by  83.  The 
Mexico  in  1848  gave  rise  to  a  most  absorbing  problem  in  °^ 


our  political  history,  namely,  the  competency  of  Congress  sovereignty,' 

December  24 

or  the  general  government  to  control  slavery  in  the  ter-  ^47 
ritories.    Between  the  extreme  free-soil   doctrine  of  the       [302] 
Wilmot  Proviso1  and  the  extreme  Southern  rights  doc 
trine  of  the  Calhoun-Rhett-Davis  school,2  the  compromise 
principle  of  "  squatter  sovereignty  "  was  reached.    It  was 

1  Moved  by  Wilmot  of  Pennsylvania,  in  the  House,  August  8,  1846, 
as  an  amendment  to  a  bill  to  appropriate  $2,000,000  to  the  President's 
use  in  purchasing  a  peace  from  Mexico  :  "  Provided,  That,  as  an  ex 
press  and  fundamental  condition  to  the  acquisition  of  any  territory  from 
the  Republic  of  Mexico  .  .  .  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude 
shall  ever  exist  in  any  part  of  said  territory."  —  Congressional  Globe, 
29th  Congress,  ist  session,  p.  1217. 

2  Briefly  this  doctrine  was  that  the  territories  were  the  property  of 
the  states  and  not  of  the  general  government.    The  states  had  not  re 
linquished  their  co-sovereignty  over  the  territories  by  allowing  Con 
gress  to  make  "  needful  rules  and  regulations  "  for  them  (Constitution, 
Art.  IV,  Sect.  Ill,  par.  2);  and  in  taking  their  slaves  into  the  terri 
tories  the  Southerners  were  but  "  exercising  a  common  right  over  a  com 
mon  property."    Otherwise  sovereignty  over  all  the  territories  would 
be  vested  in  only  apart  of  the  states,  namely,  the  majority  in  Congress. 
See,  for  Calhoun's  resolutions  and  Rhett's  speech,  Congressional  Glob-.- 
29th  Congress,  ad  session,  p.  455,  and  Appendix,  pp.  244-246. 

359 


360  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

the  principle  applied  in  1850  to  Utah  and  New  Mexico, 
and  extended  by  Douglas  in  1854  to  Kansas  and  Nebraska; 
it  was  the  issue  on  which  the  Republican  party  was  formed 
in  1854;  it  was  the  topic  of  the  great  Lincoln-Douglas 
debates  of  1858,  and  of  innumerable  other  controversies 
in  the  press  and  the  pulpit,  in  the  halls  of  legislation,  and 
in  the  market  place,  "until  debate  was  silenced  by  the  more 
eloquent  bombardment  of  Sumter."  The  following  letter 
from  Lewis  Cass,  a  prominent  aspirant  for  presidential 
honors  in  1848,  to  Mr.  A.  O.  P.  Nicholson  of  Tennes-' 
see,  is  the  first  clear  announcement  of  the  doctrine  of 
squatter  sovereignty.1 

The  theory  of  our  government  presupposes  that  its  various 
members  have  reserved  to  themselves  the  regulation  of  all  sub 
jects  relating  to  what  may  be  termed  their  internal  police.  They 
are  sovereign  within  their  boundaries,  except  in  those  cases 
where  they  have  surrendered  to  the  General  Government  a  por 
tion  of  their  rights,  in  order  to  give  effect  to  the  objects  of  the 
Union.  [See  the  Preamble  to  the  Constitution.]  .  .  . 

Local  institutions,  if  I  may  so  speak,  whether  they  have  refer 
ence  to  slavery  or  to  any  other  relations,  domestic  or  private, 
are  left  to  local  authority.  .  .  .  Congress  has  no  right  to  say 
there  shall  be  slavery  in  New  York,  or  that  there  shall  be  no 
slavery  in  Georgia ;  nor  is  there  any  human  power,  but  the 
people  of  those  States  respectively,  which  can  change  the  rela 
tion  existing  therein ;  and  they  can  say,  if  they  will,  "  We  will 
have  slavery  in  the  former,  and  we  will  abolish  it  in  the  latter." 

In  various  respects,  the  Territories  differ  from  the  States. 
Some  of  their  rights  are  inchoate,  and  they  do  not  possess  the 
peculiar  attributes  of  sovereignty.  Their  relation  to  the  General 

1  The  principle  had  already  been  recognized  in  the  joint  resolution 
for  the  admission  of  Texas,  March  i,  1845  :  "  And  such  states  as  may 
be  formed  out  of  that  portion  of  said  territory  [Texas]  lying  south  of 
36°  30'  north  latitude  .  .  .  shall  be  admitted  to  the  Union  with  or  with 
out  slavery,  as  the  people  of  each  State  asking  admission  may  desire.'' 
—  United  States  Statutes  at  Large,  Vol.  V,  p.  798. 


Approaching  the  Crisis  361 

Government  is  very  imperfectly  defined  by  the  Constitution ; 
and  it  will  be  found,  upon  examination,  that  in  that  instrument 
the  only  grant  of  power  concerning  them  is  conveyed  in  the 
phrase,  "  Congress  shall  have  the  power  to  dispose  of  and  make 
all  needful  rules  and  regulations  respecting  the  territory  and 
other  property  belonging  to  the  United  States."  Certainly  this 
phraseology  is  very  loose,  if  it  designed  to  include  in  the  grant 
the  whole  power  of  legislation  over  persons,  as  well  as  things. 
. .  .  The  lives  and  persons  of  our  citizens,  with  the  vast  variety  of 
objects  connected  with  them,  cannot  be  controlled  by  an  author 
ity  which  is  merely  called  into  existence  for  the  purpose  of  mak 
ing  rules  and  regulations  for  the  disposition  and  management  of 
property.  ...  If  the  relation  of  master  and  servant  may  be 
regulated  or  annihilated  ...  so  may  the  relation  of  husband  and 
wife,  of  parent  and  child,  and  of  any  other  condition  which  our 
institutions  and  the  habits  of  our  society  recognize.  .  .  . 

Such,  it  appears  to  me,  would  be  the  construction  put  upon 
this  provision  of  the  Constitution,  were  this  question  now  first 
presented  for  consideration.  .  .  .  Certain  it  is  that  the  principle 
of  interference  should  not  be  carried  beyond  the  necessary  im 
plication,  which  produces  it.  It  should  be  limited  to  the  creation 
of  proper  governments  for  new  countries,  acquired  or  settled, 
and  to  the  necessary  provisions  for  their  eventual  admission  to 
the  Union ;  leaving,  in  the  mean  time,  to  the  people  inhabiting 
them,  to  regulate  their  internal  concerns  in  their  own  way.  They 
are  just  as  capable  of  doing  so  as  the  people  of  the  States ;  and 
they  can  do  so,  at  any  rate,  as  soon  as  their  political  independ 
ence  is  recognized  by  their  admission  into  the  Union.  During 
this  temporary  condition  [as  territories],  it  is  hardly  expedient 
to  call  into  exercise  a  doubtful  and  invidious  authority  [of  pro 
hibiting  slavery]  which  questions  the  intelligence  of  a  respecta 
ble  portion  of  our  citizens  ...  an  authority  which  would  give 
Congress  a  despotic  power,  uncontrolled  by  the  Constitution, 
over  most  important  sections  of  our  common  country.  .  .  . 

When  the  authors  of  the  "Georgia  platform"  concluded  84.  Fugitive 
with  timid  confidence  that  "  upon  the  faithful  execution  of  s  aves 
the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  by  the  proper  authorities  "  would 


362  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

depend  "  the  preservation  of  our  much-loved  Union  "  (see 
No.  8 1,  p.  353),  they  put  their  ringer  on  the  critical  point 
in  the  compromise  measures.1  The  number  of  fugitives 
from  Southern  plantations  was  inconsiderable,2  but  the 
spread  of  a  sentiment  of  sympathy  for  them  through  the 
North,  and  of  a  disposition  to  repeal  or  evade  the  law  com 
pelling  their  return,  stirred  a  spirit  of  reproachful  indigna 
tion  on  both  sides  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  The  temper 
of  the  South  is  well  reflected  in  the  following  report  of  a 
committee  of  the  legislature  of  Virginia  in  1 849  : 

.  .  .  Look  at  the  actual  state  of  things  in  the  sixtieth'  year  of 
the  Constitution !  It  is  simply  and  undeniably  this :  That  the 
South  is  wholly  without  the  benefit  of  that  solemn  constitutional 
guaranty  which  was  so  sacredly  pledged  to  it  at  the  formation 
of  this  Union.  .  .  .  No  citizen  of  the  South  can  pass  the  frontier 
of  a  non-slaveholding  State  and  there  exercise  his  undoubted 
constitutional  right  of  seizing  his  fugitive  slave,  with  a  view  to 
take  him  before  a  judicial  officer  and  there  prove  his  right  of 
ownership,  without  imminent  danger  of  being  prosecuted  crimi 
nally  as  a  kidnapper,  or  being  sued  in  a  civil  action  for  false 

*  In  the  very  month  in  which  the  Georgia  platform  was  adopted 
(December,  1850),  Frederick  Douglass,  an  escaped  slave,  before  a  large 
audience  at  Rochester,  New  York,  said :  "  Most  of  those  who  are  pres 
ent  will  have  observed  that  leading  men  in  this  country  have  been 
putting  forth  their  skill  to  secure  quiet  to  the  nation.  A  system  of 
measures  to  promote  this  object  was  adopted  a  few  months  ago  in  Con 
gress.  The  result  of  those  measures  is  known.  Instead  of  quiet,  they 
have  produced  alarm;  instead  of  peace,  they  have  brought  us  war;  and 
so  it  must  ever  be.  While  this  nation  is  guilty  of  the  enslavement  of 
3,000,000  innocent  men  and  women,  it  is  as  idle  to  think  of  having  a 
sound  and  lasting  peace,  as  it  is  to  think  there  is  no  God  to  take  cog 
nizance  of  the  affairs  of  men."  —  Frederick  Douglass,  Lectures  on 
American  Slavery  (a  pamphlet,  p.  16,  Buffalo,  1851). 

2  "  The  number  of  fugitives  who  escaped  into  the  free  States  annu 
ally  did  not  exceed  one  thousand.  The  number  of  arrests  of  fugitives, 
of  which  an*  account  was  had,  from  the  passage  of  the  1850  law  to  the 
middle  of  1856  was  only  two  hundred."  —  J.  F.  Rhodes,  History  of  the 
United  States  from  the  Compromise  of  1850,  Vol.  II,  p.  76. 


Approaching  the  Crisis 

imprisonment  —  imprisoned  himself  for  want  of  bail,  and  sub 
jected  in  his  defence  to  an  expense  exceeding  the  whole  value  of 
the  property  claimed,  or  finally  of  being  mobbed  or  being  put  to 
death  in  a  street  fight  by  insane  fanatics  or  brutal  ruffians.  In 
short,  the  condition  of  things  is,  that  at  this  day  very  few  of  the 
owners  of  fugitive  slaves  have  the  hardihood  to  pass  the  frontier 
of  a  non-slaveholding  state  and  exercise  their  undoubted,  adjudi 
cated  constitutional  right  of  seizing  the  fugitive.  In  such  a  con 
juncture  as  this,  the  committee  would  be  false  to  their  duty  — 
they  would  be  false  to  their  country,  if  they  did  not  give  utter 
ance  to  their  deliberate  conviction,  that  the  continuance  of  this 
state  of  things  cannot  be,  and  ought  not  to  be  much  longer 
endured  by  the  South  —  be  the  consequences  what  they  may. 

In  such  a  diseased  state  of  opinion  as  prevails  in  the  non- 
slaveholding  states  on  the  subject  of  Southern  slavery,  it  may 
well  be  imagined  what  the  character  of  their  local  legislation 
must  be.  Yet  it  is  deemed  by  the  committee  their  duty  to  pre 
sent  before  the  country  the  actual  state  of  that  legislation,  that 
the  people  of  this  commonwealth  and  of  the  entire  South  may 
see  how  rapid  and  complete  has  been  its  transition  from  a  fra 
ternal  interest  in  our  welfare  to  a  rank  and  embittered  hostility 
to  our  institutions.  [Then  follows  a  review  of  the  Personal  Lib 
erty  Acts  passed  from  1843  to  1848  by  the  states  of  Vermont, 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  Pennsylvania.] 

But  this  disgusting  and  revolting  exhibition  of  faithless  and 
unconstitutional  legislation  must  now  be  brought  to  a  close.  It 
may  be  sufficient  to  remark  that  the  same  embittered  feeling 
against  the  rights  of  the  slaveholder,  with  more  or  less  of  in 
tensity,  now  marks,  almost  without  exception,  the  legislation  of 
every  non-slaveholding  state  of  this  Union.  So  far  therefore  as 
our  rights  depend  upon  the  aid  and  cooperation  of  state  officers 
and  state  legislation,  we  are  wholly  without  remedy  or  relief. 

Kidnapers  of  slaves  drove  a  lucrative  trade  in  some 
parts  of  the  South.  The  following  account  of  the  chase 
and  capture  of  a  slave  stealer  is  from  the  Atlanta  Daily 
Intelligencer  of  January  22,  1851  : 


364  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

OVERHAULED:  Those  absconding  negroes,  accompanied  by 
a  white  man  (referred  to  in  this  paper  of  the  2d  inst.)  were  over 
hauled  by  their  owners,  Messrs.  Calhoun  and  Storey,  after  a  hot 
and  spirited  chase  through  Alabama,  Tenn.,  &  Ky.  The  white 
fellow,  proved  to  be  a  young  man  named  Howard  from  N.  Caro 
lina,  who  had  been  working  in  our  town  during  some  portion 
of  the  past  year  at  the  carpenter's  trade.  At  Decatur,  Alabama, 
he  sold  one  of  the  boys,  pocketed  the  money  and  provided  himself 
with  a  pass  to  join  him  and  the  other  boy  at  Tuscumbia.  Learn 
ing,  however,  in  the  mean  time  that  he  was  being  hotly  pursued,1 
Howard  abandoned  the  boy  and  made  tracks  for  his  own  safety 
in  the  direction  of  Illinois,  through  Tenn.  &  Ky.  By  the  aid  of 
the  Telegraph,  the  progress  of  the  villain  was  cut  short  off  at 
Smithland,  Ky.,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Cumberland,  within  a 
few  hundred  yards  of  the  State  of  111.  He  is  now  in  jail,  sub 
ject  to  the  requisition  of  the  Executive  of  this  State  —  all  done 
too,  without  the  owners  of  the  negroes  ever  seeing  the  scoun 
drel,  or  being  within  hundreds  of  miles  of  him.  We  wish  the 
young  man  a  speedy  retreat  within  our  penitentiary,  and  plenty 
of  good  hard  work,  and  hard  usage  for  his  pains  of  endeavoring 
to  defraud  honest  men  out  of  their  property.  The  owners 
returned  to  this  place,  with  their  negroes  on  Tuesday  last. 

One  slave  of  exceptional  intellectual  powers,  in  whose 
veins  ran  white  blood,  escaped  from  his  master  at  Balti 
more,  in  September,  1838.  This  man  was  Frederick 

1  How  hot  the  pursuit  of  an  absconding  negro  might  be  is  illustrated 
by  the  following  advertisement  from  a  Louisiana  newspaper,  November 
26,  1847  :  "  The  subscriber,  living  on  Carroway  Lake,  on  Hoe's  Bayou, 
in  Carrol  Parish,  sixteen  miles  on  the  road  leading  from  Bayou  Mason 
to  Lake  Providence,  is  ready  with  a  pack  of  dogs  to  hunt  runaway 
negroes  at  any  time.  These  dogs  are  well  trained  and  known  through 
out  the  Parish.  Letters  addressed  to  me  at  Providence  will  secure  im 
mediate  attention.  My  terms  are  five  dollars  per  day  for  hunting  the 
trails,  whether  the  negro  is  caught  or  not.  When  a  twelve  hours'  trail 
is  shown,  and  the  negro  not  taken,  no  charge  is  made.  For  taking 
a  negro  $25.00,  and  no  charge  made  for  hunting.  James  H.  Hall." 
—  Quoted  by  McMaster,  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  States, 
Vol.  VII,  p.  242,  note. 


Approaching  the  Crisis  365 

Douglass  (1817-1895),  abolitionist,  orator,  newspaper  edi 
tor,  Republican  politician,  European  traveler,  and  lifelong 
champion  of  the  rights  of  the  colored  man  in  all  parts  of 
the  world.  Douglass  gives  the  following  account  of  his 
escape  from  slavery: 

My  means  of  escape  were  provided  for  me  by  the  very  men 
who  were  making  laws  to  hold  and  bind  me  more  securely  in 
slavery.  It  was  the  custom  in  the  State  of  Maryland  to  require 
of  the  free  colored  people  to  have  what  were  called  "  free 
papers."  This  instrument  they  were  required  to  renew  very 
often,  and  by  charging  a  fee  for  this  writing,  considerable  sums 
from  time  to  time  were  collected  by  the  State.  In  these  papers 
the  name,  age,  color,  height  and  form  of  the  free  man  were  de 
scribed,  together  with  any  scars  or  other  marks  upon  his  person 
which  could  assist  in  his  identification.  This  device  of  slavehold- 
ing  ingenuity,  like  other  devices  of  wickedness,  in  som'e  measure 
defeated  itself  —  since  more  than  one  man  could  be  found  to 
answer  the  same  general  description.  Hence  many  slaves  could 
escape  by  personating  the  owner  of  one  set  of  papers ;  and  this 
was  often  done  as  follows :  A  slave  nearly  or  sufficiently  an 
swering  the  description  set  forth  in  the  papers,  would  borrow 
or  hire  them  until  he  could  by  their  means  escape  to  a  free  state, 
and  then,  by  mail  or  otherwise,  return  them  to  the  owner.  The 
operation  was  a  hazardous  one  for  the  lender  as  well  as  the  bor 
rower.  A  failure  on  the  part  of  the  fugitive  to  send  back  the 
papers  would  imperil  his  benefactor,  and  the  discovery  of  the 
papers  in  the  possession  of  the  wrong  man  would  imperil  both 
the  fugitive  and  his  friend.  It  was  therefore  an  act  of  supreme 
trust  on  the  part  of  a  freeman  of  color  thus  to  put  in  jeopardy 
his  own  liberty  that  another  might  be  free.  .  .  . 

I  had  one  friend  —  a  sailor  —  who  owned  a  sailor's  protec 
tion  .  .  .  describing  his  person  and  certifying  to  the  fact  that  he 
was  a  free  American  sailor.  .  .  .  The  protection  did  not,  when 
in  my  hands,  describe  its  bearer  very  accurately.  Indeed,  it 
called  for  a  man  much  darker  than  myself,  and  close  examina 
tion  of  it  would  have  caused  my  arrest  at  the  start.  In  order  to 


366  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

avoid  this  fatal  scrutiny  on  the  part  of  the  railroad  official,  I  had 
arranged  with  Isaac  Rolls,  a  hackman,  to  bring  my  baggage  to 
the  train  just  on  the  moment  of  starting,  and  jumped  upon  the 
car  myself  when  the  train  was  already  in  motion.  Had  I  gone 
into  the  station  and  offered  to  purchase  a  ticket,  I  should  have  been 
instantly  and  carefully  examined,  and  undoubtedly  arrested.  .  .  . 

In  my  clothing  I  was  rigged  out  in  sailor  style.  I  had  on  a 
red  shirt  and  a  tarpaulin  hat  and  black  cravat,  tied  in  sailor 
fashion,  carelessly  and  loosely  about  my  neck.  My  knowledge 
of  ships  and  sailors'  talk  came  much  to  my  assistance,  for  I  knew 
a  ship  from  stem  to  stern  and  from  keelson  to  cross-trees,  and 
could  talk  sailor  like  an  "  old  salt."  On  sped  the  train,  and  I 
was  well  on  the  way  to  Havre  de  Grace  before  the  conductor 
came  into  the  negro  car  to  collect  tickets  and  examine  the  papers 
of  his  black  passengers.  My  whole  future  depended  upon  the 
decision  of  this  conductor.  ...  "I  suppose  you  have  your  free 
papers?"  [he  observed].  To  which  I  answered:  "No,  sir;  I 
never  carry  my  free  papers  to  sea  with  me."  "  But  you  have 
something  to  show  that  you  are  a  free  man,  have  you  not  ? " 
"  Yes,  sir,"  I  answered ;  "  I  have  a  paper  with  the  American 
eagle  on  it,  that  will  carry  me  round  the  world."  With  this  I 
drew  from  my  deep  sailor's  pocket  my  seaman's  protection,  as 
before  described.  The  merest  glance  at  the  paper  satisfied  him, 
and  he  took  my  fare  and  went  on  about  his  business.  .  . .  Though 
much  relieved,  I  realized  that  I  was  still  in  great  danger :  I  was 
still  in  Maryland  and  subject  to  arrest  at  any  moment.  I  saw 
on  the  train  several  persons  who  would  have  known  me  in  any 
other  clothes,  and  I  feared  they  might  recognize  me,  even  in  my 
sailor's  "  rig,"  and  report  me  to  the  conductor.  .  .  . 

Though  I  was  not  a  murderer  fleeing  from  justice,  I  felt, 
perhaps,  quite  as  miserable  as  such  a  criminal.  .  . .  Minutes  were 
hours,  and  hours  were  days  during  this  part  of  my  flight.  After 
Maryland  I  was  to  pass  through  Delaware — another  slave  State, 
where  slave  catchers  generally  awaited  their  prey. . . .  The  border 
lines  between  slavery  and  freedom  were  the  dangerous  ones. for 
the  fugitives.  The  heart  of  no  fox  or  deer,  with  hungry  hounds 
on  his  trail  in  full  chase,  could  have  beaten  more  anxiously  or 
noisily  than  mine  did  from  the  time  I  left  Baltimore  till  I  reached 


Approaching  the  Crisis  367 

Philadelphia.  ...  A  German  blacksmith,  whom  I  knew  very  well, 
was  on  the  train  with  me,  and  looked  at  me  very  intently  [on 
the  ferry  over  the  Susquehanna  River].  I  really  believe  he  knew 
me,  but  had  no  heart  to  betray  me.  At  any  rate,  he  saw  me 
escaping  and  held  his  peace. 

The  last  point  of  imminent  danger,  and  the  one  I  dreaded 
most,  was  Wilmington.  Here  we  left  the  train,  and  took  the 
steamboat  for  Philadelphia.  In  making  the  change  I  again  ap 
prehended  arrest,  but  no  one  disturbed  me,  and  I  was  soon  on 
the  broad  and  beautiful  Delaware,  speeding  away  to  the  Quaker 
City.  On  reaching  Philadelphia  in  the  afternoon  I  inquired  of 
a  colored  man  how  I  could  get  on  to  New  York.  He  directed 
me  to  the  Willow  St.  depot,  and  thither  I  went,  taking  the  train 
that  night.  I  reached  New  York  Tuesday  morning,  having  com 
pleted  the  journey  in  less  than  twenty-four  hours.  Such  is  briefly 
the  manner  of  my  escape  from  slavery  —  and  the  end  of  my 
experience  as  a  slave.  Other  chapters  will  tell  the  story  of  my 
life  as  a  freeman. 

"  A  HOUSE  DIVIDED  AGAINST  ITSELF  " 

On  the  afternoon  of  December  4,  1855,  the  newsboys  85.  The 
on  Broadway  were  hawking  an  "  extra  "  of  the  New  York  Legislature « 
Herald,  on  the  "  Great  War  in  Kansas."  of  Kansas, 

CALL  FROM  THE  GOVERNOR  FOR  UNITED 

STATES  TROOPS 

By  Telegraph 

Accounts  from  Kansas  state  that  Governor  Shannon  has 
telegraphed  to  the  President  concerning  the  present  condition 
of  affairs  in  that  Territory.  He  says  that  one  thousand  men 
have  arrived  in  Lawrence,  and  rescued  a  prisoner  from  the 
sheriff  of  Douglas  County,  and  burned  some  houses  and  other 
property.  He  asks  the  President  to  order  out  the  troops  at  Fort 
Leavenworth  to  aid  in  the  execution  of  the  laws. 

Douglas  Brewerton,  an  old  companion  of  Kit  Carson  on 
his  Rocky  Mountain  travels,  bought  a  copy  of  the  "  extra," 


368  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

read  the  dispatch,  and  hastened  to  the  Herald  office  to 
offer  his  services  as  special  correspondent  from  Kansas. 
Arrived  on  the  scene,  Brewerton  secured  the  following 
account  of  the  origin  of  the  disorder  from  James  Chris 
tian,  a  moderate  proslavery  man  from  Kentucky,  who  was 
filling  a  county  clerkship  in  the  territory. 

The  true  cause  of  these  Kansas  troubles  was  not  an  arrest 
by  the  Sheriff  under  the  Territorial  law ;  it  had  its  origin  far  back 
in  the  halls  of  Congress,  when  the  Nebraska  and  Kansas  bills 
were  passed,  when  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  declared  null 
and  void,  and  ultra  men  boasted  in  our  Legislative  Assemblies, 
that  if  they  could  not  defeat  these  bills  in  one  way  they  would 
in  another,  and  returned  to  their  homes  to  organize  "  Emigrant 
Aid  Societies  "  and  "Kansas  Leagues,"  with  the  avowed  intention 
of  defeating  the  Kansas  Bill,  by  Abolitionizing  the  Territory. 
This  was  theyfrj-/  wrong,  and  it  aroused  the  indignation  of  the 
"  Fire  Eaters  "  of  Western  Missouri.  .  .  . 

When  the  first  election  in  Kansas  [for  delegate]  came  on 
[November,  1854],  these  gentlemen  called  out  the  pro-slavery 
forces  and  marched  their  men  into  our  Territory  to  cast  their  votes 
for  Whitfield.  This  was  done  to  counteract  the  influence  of  the 
Boston  Aid  Societies  and  Kansas  Leagues,  already  alluded  to. 
This  might  have  been  all  well  or  ill  enough,  if  the  evil  had  stopped 
here,  as  the  Free  Soilers,  when  they  came  in,  ruled  it  with  a  high 
hand ;  in  many  instances  treating  the  Pro-Slavery  and  Western 
settlers  with  the  grossest  injustice,  by  driving  them  from  their 
improvements,  or  cutting  their  timber  before  their  eyes,  at  the 
same  time  bidding  them  defiance,  as  they  [the  Yankees]  "  had 
the  power  and  meant  to  take  the  country."  This  it  was  that 
prompted  the  Pro-Slavery  and  Western  men  to  seek  protection 
from  their  friends  in  Missouri,  who,  to  do  them  justice,  were  as 
zealous  in  giving  assistance  as  they  were  prompt  to  ask  it.  Things 
were  in  this  condition  when  the  spring  elections  came  on  for 
members  of  the  Council  and  House  of  Representatives.  This 
took  place  on  the  30th  of  March,  1855,  and  the  people  of  Missouri, 
delighted  with  their  success  at  the  fall  election,  came  in  with 


Approaching  the  Crisis  369 

renewed  vigor  to  the  Kansas  ballot-boxes,  bringing  with  them 
an  ample  supply  of  their  favorite  institutions  —  bowie-knives, 
pistols,  and  whisky  —  to  the  great  terror  of  the  Yankees.  .  .  . 

Upon  the  morning  of  the  30th  of  March,  a  clear  sunshiny  day, 
the  voters  of  Lawrence  District  began  assembling  about  the  door 
of  the  polls,  which  was  held  in  a  small  log  shanty,  situated  upon 
the  outskirts  of  the  city  of  Lawrence.  In  the  meantime,  the  in 
vading  army  of  Missouri  voters,  who  had  arrived  the  day  before, 
to  the  number  of  some  eight  or  nine  hundred  men,  were  encamped 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  polls.  At  9  A.M.,  the  hour  appointed  for 
the  opening  of  the  polls,  the  Missourians,  well  armed,  walked 
down  to  the  one-horse  shanty,  before  alluded  to.  Their  leader 
Young  then  took  the  oath  required  by  the  judges  of  election. 
To  avoid  the  rush,  and  prevent  unnecessary  crowding,  the  Mis 
sourians  then  formed  a  line  some  hundred  yards  in  length  on 
either  side  of  the  shanty  window,  in  which  the  voters  were  to 
deposit  their  ballots.  Through  this  alley-way  the  voters  parsed 
in ;  but  as  the  living  stream  was  for  some  time  continuous,  and 
a  retreat  through  the  lane  impossible,  it  became  necessary  to 
adopt  some  plan  by  which  to  get  rid  of  the  voter  after  he  had 
been  polled.  This  was  no  easy  matter ;  but,  as  a  happy  expe 
dient,  it  was  at  length  determined  to  hoist  each  polled  man  upon 
the  roof  of  the  shanty,  where  he  seized  hold  of  the  shingles  and 
thus  assisted  himself  over  until  he  had  gained  the  other  side,  from 
whence  a  second  jump  brought  him  in  safety  to  the  ground,  leav 
ing  him  at  liberty  to  supply  the  place  of  some  friend  who  had 
not  yet  voted.  Thus  the  vote  polled  in  the  Lawrence  District  was 
upward  of  one  thousand,  of  which  two  hundred  and  twenty-five 
were  Free  Soil  and  the  balance  Pro-Slavery.  .  .  . 

This  Legislature  —  styled  Bogus,  by  the  Free-Soil  party  — 
met,  in  accordance  with  the  Governor's  proclamation,  at  Pawnee, 
a  paper  city  on  the  extreme  verge  of  civilization,  with  no  house 
to  shelter  them  from  the  inclemency  of  the  weather.  I  was 
present,  and  shall  never  forget  the  first  meeting  of  the  Kansas 
Legislature ;  it  was  a  most  novel  sight  to  see  grave  councilmen 
and  brilliant  orators  of  the  House  of  Representatives  cooking 
their  food  by  the  side  of  a  log,  or  sleeping  on  a  buffalo-robe  in 
the  open  air,  with  the  broad  canopy  of  heaven  for  a  covering. 


37°  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

During  the  meeting  of  the  Legislature  at  Pawnee,  we  had 
several  severe  showers,  and  it  was  amusing  enough  to  behold 
these  Romuluses  of  Kansas,  as  they  scampered,  with  their  beds 
upon  their  backs  —  like  an  Irish  pedlar  —  to  some  new  houses 
which  boasted  neither  window  nor  door,  and  kept  out  but  illy 
the  pelting  storm.  There  were  but  two  things  in  abundance  at 
Pawnee  —  rocky  mounds  and  highly  rectified  whisky. 

Being  fairly  drowned  out,  the  Legislature  finally  adjourned  to 
Shawnee  Mission,  whereupon  the  Governor  vetoed  trie  Bill : 
this  was  the  final  rupture  between  the  Governor  and  the  Legis 
lature  ;  then  came  the  tug  of  war.  Both  parties  from  this  mo 
ment  broke  out  into  open  hostility.  The  Governor  and  his 
Free-Soil  friends  repudiated  the  Legislature  and  its  acts,  and 
bid  defiance  to  both ;  they  spoke  of  it  as  the  Missouri  Bogus 
Legislation.  The  Legislature,  on  their  part,  were  not  slow  to 
retaliate ;  they  racked  their  ingenuity  to  insult  and  aggravate 
the  Tree-Soil  party,  and  if  possible  widen  the  breach  between 
the  two  contending  factions,  for  I  can  scarcely  dignify  with  the 
name  of  party  those  who  condescend  to  such  a  petty  warfare  as 
exists  between  the  Kansas  agitators.  The  Legislature,  in  the 
first  place,  memorialized  President  Pierce  to  remove  Governor 
Reeder,  which  was  done.  .  .  .  They  then  attempted  to  padlock 
the  mouths  of  the  Free-Soilers  by  preventing  their  expressing 
an  opinion  as  to  the  right  of  individuals  to  hold  slaves  in  Kansas 
Territory.  Their  next  move  was  to  appoint  officers  to  put  this 
padlock  on,  or  in  other  words,  to  execute  their  laws,  and  as 
most  of  the  members  lived  in  Missouri,  it  was  no  very  singular 
thing  that  they  had  friends  to  reward  in  that  State,  who  were 
patriotic  enough  to  "  move  into  Kansas  "  if  they  could  get  an 
office  there  ;  this  several  of  them  did,  and  accordingly  came  into 
the  Territory  with  their  commissions  in  their  pockets.  In  due 
time  the  Legislature  closed  this,  their  labor  of  love,  and  returned 
to  the  bosom  of  their  families,  with  their  well  earned  pay  in 
their  pockets,  with  which  to  improve  their  farms  in  Jackson  and 
other  counties  of  Missouri.  .  .  . 

Colonel  John  Scott,  city  attorney  of  St.  Joseph,  Missouri, 
was  one  of  the  "  invaders  "  of  Kansas.  He  voted  at  the 


Approaching  the  Crisis  37 1 

elections  of  1854  and  1855.  In  his  testimony  before  the 
House  committee  of  three,  which  was  sent  to  Kansas  in 
1856,  he  said  : 

I  was  present  at  the  election  of  March  30,  1855  in  Burr  Oak 
precinct  in  the  14*  district,  in  this  Territory.  I  saw  many  Mis- 
sourians  there.  There  had  been  a  good  deal  of  talk  about  the 
settlement  of  Kansas,  in  the  interference  of  eastern  people  in 
the  settlement  of  that  territory,  since  the  passage  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill.  It  was  but  a  short  time  after  the  passage  of  that 
act  that  we  learned  through  the  papers  about  the  forming  of  a 
society  in  the  east  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  the  settlement 
of  Kansas  Territory,  with  the  view  of  making  it  a  free  State.  .  .  . 

[The  Missourians]  were  excited  upon  that  subject,  and  have 
been  ever  since.  This  rumor  and  excitement  extended  all  over 
the  State,  and  more  particularly  in  the  borders.  .  .  .  The  people 
of  the  south  have  always  thought  they  have  always  been  inter 
fered  with  by  the  north,  and  the  people  of  Missouri  considered 
this  the  most  open  and  bold  movement  the  northern  and  eastern 
societies  ever  made.  .  .  . 

Immediately  preceding  the  election  [1855],  and  even  before 
the  opening  of  navigation,  we  had  rumors  that  hundreds  of 
eastern  people  were  in  St.  Louis,  waiting  for  the  navigation  of 
the  river  to  be  opened,  that  they  might  get  up  to  the  Territory 
in  time  for  the  election,  and  the  truth  of  these  rumors  was  es 
tablished  by  the  accounts  steamboat  officers  afterwards  brought 
up  of  the  emigrants  they  had  landed  at  different  places  in  and 
near  the  Territory,  who  had  no  families,  and  very  little  property, 
except  little  oil  cloth  carpet  sacks.  .  .  . 

It  was  determined  by  the  Missourians  that  if  the  eastern 
emigrants  were  allowed  to  vote,  we  would  vote  also,  or  we 
would  destroy  the  poll  books  and  break  up  the  elections ;  and 
the  determination  is  that  eastern  people  shall  not  be  allowed  to 
interfere  and  control  the  domestic  institutions  of  Kansas,  if  the 
Union  is  dissolved  in  preventing  it,  though  we  are  willing  that 
all  honest,  well-meaning  settlers  shall  come  and  be  admitted  to 
all  the  equality  of  other  citizens.  .  .  .  The  avowed  object  of  mak 
ing  a  free  State  by  persons  living  remote  from  the  Territory, 


372  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

and  having  no  interest  in  it,  and  the  raising  of  money  and  means 
for  that  purpose,  is  the  obnoxious  feature  of  these  emigrant  aid 
societies.  ...  I  think  it  is  a  new  thing  for  free  States  to  get  up 
societies  for  making  free  States  out  of  Territories.  .  . 

I  think  it  is  the  general  expression,  and  I  know  it  is  the 
ardent  hope  of  every  man  in  Missouri  that  I  have  heard  express 
himself,  that  if  the  north  would  cease  operating  by  these  socie 
ties,  Missouri  would  also  cease  to  use  those  she  has  established. 
All  that  Missourians  asked  was  that  the  principles  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Act  should  be  carried  out,  and  the  actual  settlers  of 
the  Territory  allowed  to  manage  their  own  domestic  institutions 
for  themselves. 

The  press,  of  course,  North  and  South,  abounded  in 
violent  and  defiant  comment  on  the  Kansas  situation.  A 
typical  editorial  from  the  New  York  Tribune  of  May  14, 
1855,  says: 

It  is  abundantly  demonstrated,  from  what  we  have  published 
on  the  Kansas  election,  that  a  more  stupendous  fraud  was  never 
perpetrated  since  the  invention  of  the  ballot-box.  The  crew 
who  will  assemble  under  the  title  of  the  Kansas  Territorial 
Legislature,  by  virtue  of  this  outrage,  will  be  a  body  of  men  to 
whose  acts  no  more  respect  will  be  due,  and  should  no  more  be 
entitled  to  the  weight  of  authority,  than  a  Legislature  chosen 
by  a  tribe  of  wandering  Arabs,  who  should  pitch  their  tents  and 
extemporize  an  election  on  the  prairies  of  that  Territory.  .  .  . 

We  are  not  prepared  either  to  say  to  what  these  proceedings 
are  likely  to  lead.  They  seem,  however,  pregnant  with  the  seeds 
of  great  good  or  evil.  They  sound  in  our  ears  like  the  distant 
roar  of  the  coming  tempest.  Events  of  startling  character  and 
magnitude  may  stand  in  fearful  proximity  behind  that  dim  and 
shadowy  veil  which  divides  the  present  from  the  future.  There 
is  Kansas.  Her  territory  is  free  soil.  It  was  never  stained  by 
the  tread  of  a  slave.  Her  plains  never  echoed  to  the  lash  of 
the  slave-driver's  whip,  nor  the  groans  of  the  enchained  bond 
men.  The  millions  of  the  free  States  have  thundered  out  the 


Approaching  the  Crisis  373 

declaration  that  they  never  shall.  On  one  side,  the  slave  power 
has  risen  in  its  might  and  declared  its  purpose  to  subjugate 
that  Territory,  and  plant  slavery  there  in  defiance  of  the  North. 
...  It  has  armed  its  myrmidons,  marshalled  and  sent  them 
forth  to  execute  its  purposes.  .  .  .  The  appeal  is  now  made 
to  arms.  By  the  sword,  they  declare,  shall  Kansas  be  gained 
to  slavery.  .  .  .  The  first  step  taken  has  been  to  put  beneath 
their  heel  the  real  residents  and  occupants  of  the  soil.  The 
next  is  to  depose  the  Governor,  and  pronounce  another  in  his 
place.  A  third  is  to  declare  war  against  all  who  dare  oppose 
their  plans.  .  .  . 

On  the  other  [side]  stands  a  little  band  of  the  sons  of  free 
dom,  just  now  borne  down  by  numbers,  but  resolute  in  purpose, 
and  ready  to  do  their  part  in  repelling  the  barbarian  invaders. 
The  question  is  whether  they  are  to  be  seconded  by  the  people 
of  the  North.  Is  there  a  genuine  spirit  of  freedom  in  the  country, 
ready  to  do  something  against  the  atrocious  strides  of  the  slave 
power  to  continental  dominion  ?  Are  there  those  who  are  will 
ing  to  migrate  to  Kansas  to  aid  in  maintaining  the  freedom  of 
Kansas  at  the  cost  of  such  perils  as  may  arise  ?  Do  the  northern 
people  mean  that  Kansas  shall  be  free?  If  they  do,  that  is 
enough.  The  force  that  shall  drive  out  hordes  of  land  pirates 
who  have  made  their  descent  upon  Kansas  will  not  be  long  in 
forming.  Swayed  and  inspired  by  the  sentiments  of  freedom, 
they  will  scatter  its  enemies  like  chaff.  ...  If  it  be  otherwise, 
their  degradation  is  unspeakable,  and  they  are  fit  only  to  live 
as  the  slaves  of  slaves. 

The  famous  case  of  Dred  Scott,  Plaintiff  in  Error  vs.  86.  The 
John  F.  A.  Sandford  fills  two  hundred  and  forty  pages  in  gist  of  the 
the  Reports  of  cases  argued  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  decision, 
the  United  States.  The  possibility  of  reconciling  the  Court's  ^ch  6' 
elaborate  decision  with  the  doctrine  of  squatter  sovereignty       [313] 
was  the  general  subject  of  the  great  series  of  debates  be 
tween  Lincoln  and  Douglas  for  the  Illinois  senatorship  in 
the  summer  of  1858.    A  year  later  Lincoln  referring  to 


374  'Mw  Crisis  of  Disunion 

those  debates  in  a  speech  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  said  :  "What 
is  that  Dred  Scott  decision  ?  Judge  Douglas  labors  to  show 
that  it  is  one  thing,  while  I  think  it  is  altogether  different. 
It  is  a  long  opinion,  but  it  is  all  embodied  in  this  short 
statement :  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  forbids 
Congress  to  deprive  a  man  of  his  property,  without  due 
process  of  law ;  the  right  of  property  in  slaves  is  dis 
tinctly  and  expressly  affirmed  in  that  Constitution  ;  there 
fore  if  Congress  shall  undertake  to  say  that  a  mans 
slave  is  no  longer  his  slave,  when  he  crosses  a  certain 
line  into  a  Territory,  that  is  depriving  him  of  his  prop 
erty  without  due  process  of  law,  and  is  unconstitutional. 
There  is  the  whole  Dred  Scott  decision."  *  The  text  of 
the  opinion  of  the  Court  on  this  question,  as  delivered  by 
Chief  Justice  Taney,  reads  as  follows  : 

.  .  .  The  words  "  people  of  the  United  States  "  [Preamble 
to  the  Constitution]  and  "  citizens  "  are  synonymous  terms,  and 
mean  the  same  thing.  They  both  describe  the  political  body 
who,  according  to  our  Republican  institutions,  form  the  sover 
eignty,  and  who  hold  the  power  and  conduct  the  Government 
through  their  representatives.  .  .  .  The  question  before  us  is, 
whether  the  class  of  persons  described  in  the  plea  [negroes] 
compose  a  portion  of  this  people,  and  are  constituent  members 
of  this  sovereignty  ?  We  think  that  they  are  not,  and  that  they 
are  not  included,  and  were  not  intended  to  be  included,  under 
the  word  "  citizens "  in  the  Constitution,  and  can  therefore  claim 
none  of  the  rights  and  privileges  which  that  instrument  provides 
for  and  secures  to  citizens  of  the  United  States.  On  the  con 
trary,  they  were  at  that  time  considered  as  a  subordinate  and 
inferior  class  of  beings,  who  had  been  subjugated  by  the  domi 
nant  race,  and,  whether  emancipated  or  not,  yet  remained  sub 
ject  to  their  authority,  and  had  no  rights  or  privileges  but  such 

1  Political  Debates  between  Lincoln  and  Douglas,  Columbus,  1860, 
p.  251. 


Approaching  the  Crisis  375 

as  those  who  held  the  power  and  the  Government  might  choose 
to  grant  them.  .  , . 

It  is  difficult  at  this  day  to  realize  the  state  of  public  opinion  in 
relation  to  that  unfortunate  race,  which  prevailed  in  the  civilized 
and  enlightened  portions  of  the  world  at  the  time  of  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence,  and  when  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  was  framed  and  adopted.  But  the  public  history  of  every 
European  nation  displays  it  in  a  manner  too  plain  to  be  mistaken. 

They  had  for  more  than  a  century  before  been  regarded  as 
beings  of  an  inferior  order,  and  altogether  unfit  to  associate 
with  the  white  race,  either  in  social  or  political  relations ;  and 
so  far  inferior  that  they  had  no  rights  which  the  white  man  was 
bound  to  respect ;  and  that  the  negro  might  justly  and  lawfully 
be  reduced  to  slavery  for  his  benefit.  He  was  bought  and  sold 
and  treated  as  an  ordinary  article  of  merchandise  and  traffic, 
whenever  a  profit  could  be  made  by  it.  ... 

The  opinion  thus  entertained  and  acted  upon  in  England  was 
naturally  impressed  upon  the  Colonies  they  founded  on  this  side 
of  the  Atlantic.  And,  according,  a  negro  of  the  African  race 
was  regarded  by  them  as  an  article  of  property,  and  held  and 
bought  and  sold  as  such  in  every  one  of  the  thirteen  Colonies 
which  united  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  after 
wards  formed  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

The  Territory  being  a  part  of  the  United  States,  the  Govern 
ment  and  the  citizen  both  enter  it  under  the  authority  of  the 
Constitution,  with  their  respective  rights  defined  and  marked 
out ;  and  the  Federal  Government  can  exercise  no  power  over 
his  person  or  property  beyond  what  that  instrument  confers, 
nor  lawfully  deny  any  right  which  it  has  reserved.  .  .  .  And  if 
the  Constitution  recognizes  the  right  of  property  of  the  master 
in  a  slave,  and  makes  no  distinction  between  that  description  of 
property  and  other  property  owned  by  a  citizen,  no  tribunal, 
acting  under  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  whether  it  be 
legislative,  executive,  or  judicial,  has  a  right  to  draw  such  a 
distinction.  .  .  . 

Now,  as  we  have  already  said  in  an  earlier  part  of  this  opin 
ion,  .  .  .  the  right  of  property  in  a  slave  is  distinctly  and  ex 
pressly  affirmed  in  the  Constitution.  The  right  to  traffic  in  it, 


376  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

like  an  ordinary  article  of  merchandise  and  property,  was  guar 
antied  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  in  every  State  that 
might  desire  it,  for  twenty  years.1  And  the  Government  in 
express  terms  is  pledged  to  protect  it  in  all  future  time,  if  the 
slave  escapes  from  his  owner.2  This  is  done  in  plain  words,  too 
plain  to  be  misunderstood.  And  no  word  can  be  found  in  the 
Constitution  which  gives  Congress  a  greater  power  over  slave 
property  .  .  .  than  property  of  any  other  description. 

Upon  these  considerations,  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  Court  that 
the  act  of  Congress3  which  prohibited  a  citizen  from  holding 
and  owning  property  of  this  kind  in  the  Territory  of  the  United 
States  north  of  the  line  therein  mentioned  [36°  30'],  is  not  war 
ranted  by  the  Constitution,  and  is  therefore  void ; 4  and  that 
neither  Dred  Scott  himself,  nor  any  of  his  family,  were  made 
free  by  being  carried  into  this  territory.  Even  if  they  had  been 
carried  there  by  the  owner,  with  the  intention  of  becoming  a 
permanent  resident.  .  .  . 

But  there  is  another  point  in  the  case  which  depends  on  State 
power  and  State  law.  And  it  contended,  on  the  part  of  the 
plaintiff,  that  he  is  made  free  by  being  taken  to  Rock  Island  in 
the  State  of  Illinois  independently  of  his  residence  in  the  territory 
of  the  United  States  ;  and  being  so  made  free,  he  was  not  again 
reduced  to  a  state  of  slavery  by  being  brought  back  to  Missouri. 

Our  notice  on  this  part  of  the  case  will  be  very  brief :  for  the 
principle  on  which  it  depends  was  decided  in  this  court,  upon 
much  consideration,  in  the  case  of  Strader  et  al.  v.  Graham, 
reported  in  ioth  Howard,  82.  In  that  case,  the  slaves  had  been 
taken  from  Kentucky  to  Ohio,  with  the  consent  of  the  owner, 
and  afterwards  brought  back  to  Kentucky.  And  this  court  held 

1  Constitution,  Art.  I,  Sect.  IX,  par.  i. 

2  Constitution,  Art.  IV,  Sect.  II,  par.  3. 

3  The  Missouri  Compromise  Act  of  1820. 

4  This  is  the  first  instance  in  our  history  of  an  act  of  Congress,  not 
bearing  on  the  judiciary  itself,  being  declared  null  and  void  by  the 
Supreme  Court.   The  Constitution  nowhere  gives  the  Supreme  Court 
this  power.   In  this  part  of  its  decision  the  Court  sanctioned  the  legislative 
repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  Act  by  the  terms  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Act  of  1854.    It  denied  Congress  the  power  of  legislating  on 
slavery  in  any  territory  of  the  United  States. 


Approaching  the  Crisis  377 

that  their  status  or  condition,  as  free  or  slave,  depended  upon 
the  laws  of  Kentucky  when  they  were  brought  back  into  that 
State,  and  not  of  Ohio ;  and  that  this  court  had  no  jurisdiction 
to  revise  the  judgment  of  a  State  court  upon  its  own  laws.  .  .  . 
So  in  this  case.  As  Scott  was  a  slave  when  taken  into  the  State 
of  Illinois  by  his  owner,  and  was  held  there  as  such  and  brought 
back  in  that  character,  his  status,  as  free  or  slave,  depended  on 
the  laws  of  Missouri,  and  not  of  Illinois.1  .  .  . 

Upon  the  whole,  therefore,  it  is  the  judgment  of  this  Court, 
that  it  appears  by  the  record  before  us  that  the  plaintiff  in  error 
is  not  a  citizen  of  Missouri,  in  the  sense  in  which  that  word  is  used 
in  the  Constitution ;  and  that  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United 
States,  for  that  reason  had  no  jurisdiction  in  the  case,  and  could 
give  no  judgment  upon  it.  Its  judgment  for  the  defendant  must, 
consequently,  be  reversed,  and  a  mandate  issued,  directing  the 
suit  to  be  dismissed  [that  is,  left  to  the  Missouri  state  court]  for 
want  of  jurisdiction. 

1  This  part  of  the  decision  completed  the  guaranty  of  the  slaveholder 
by  allowing  him  to  travel  where  he  would  with  his  slave  property  with 
out  thereby  impairing  his  property  rights  in  it.  The  advance  in  South 
ern  claims  may  be  seen  by  comparing  this  decision  with  the  words  of 
Alexander  H.  Stephens  nine  years  earlier  (August  7,  1848):  "If  my 
slave  escapes  and  gets  into  a  free  State,  the  Constitution  secures  me  the 
right  of  pursuing  and  retaking  him  [Art.  IV,  Sect.  II,  par.  2] ;  but  if  I 
voluntarily  take  my  Slave  into  a  State  where  slavery  by  law  is  pro 
hibited,  I  have  no  right  to  retake  him  ;  he  becomes  free.  No  man  will  ques 
tion  this" — Congressional  Globe,  3oth  Congress,  ist  session,  Appendix, 
p.  1105. 


CHAPTER  XV 

SECESSION 

THE  ELECTION  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

87.  The  On   February  27,    1860,  Abraham   Lincoln,   a  distin- 

standardfn  guished  lawyer  of  Illinois,  already  widely  known  for  his 
1860-1861  brilliant  debates  with  Judge  Douglas,  and  enthusiastically 
13221  boomed  for  the  presidential  nomination  by  the  Repub 
licans  of  the  West,  made  his  first  speech  before  an  Eastern 
audience  in  the  great  hall  of  the  Cooper  Institute  in  New 
York  City.  It  was  the  clearest  and  most  forceful  exposi 
tion  of  Republican  principles  made  since  the  foundation 
of  the  party,  and  answered  the  extreme  proslavery  resolu 
tions  introduced  in  the  Senate  by  Jefferson  Davis,  on 
February  2.1  After  showing  that  the  "  Fathers  "  had  no 
idea  that  the  Constitution  limited  the  Federal  govern 
ment  in  the  control  of  slavery  in  the  Federal  territory, 
and  warning  the  South  against  precipitate  action,  Lincoln 
concludes  : 

A  few  words  now  to  Republicans.  It  is  exceedingly  desirable 
that  all  parts  of  this  great  Confederacy  shall  be  at  peace  and 
harmony  one  with  another.  Let  us  Republicans  do  our  part  to 
have  it  so.  Even  though  much  provoked,  let  us  do  nothing 
through  passion  and  ill  temper.  Even  though  the  Southern 
people  will  not  so  much  as  listen  to  us,  let  us  calmly  consider 

1  See  Muzzey,  An  American  History,  pp.  322-323.  Horace  Greeley 
said  of  this  speech  in  1868  :  "  I  do  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  it  the  very 
best  political  address  to  which  I  ever  listened  —  and  I  have  heard  some 
of  Webster's  grandest."  —  Century  Magazine,  July,  1891,  p.  373. 

378 


Secession  379 

their  demands,  and  yield  to  them,  if,  in  our  deliberate  view  of 
our  duty,  we  possibly  can.  .  .  .  Let  us  determine,  if  we  can, 
what  will  satisfy  them. 

Will  they  be  satisfied  if  the  Territories  be  unconditionally 
surrendered  to  them  ?  We  know  they  will  not.  In  all  their 
present  complaints  against  us  the  Territories  are  scarcely  men 
tioned.  Invasions  and  insurrections  are  all  the  rage  now.1  Will 
it  satisfy  them  if,  in  the  future,  we  have  nothing  to  do  with 
invasions  and  insurrections  ?  We  know  it  will  not.  We  so  know, 
because  we  know  we  never  had  anything  to  do  with  invasions 
and  insurrections,  and  yet  this  total  abstaining  does  not  exempt 
us  from  the  charge  and  the  denunciation. 

The  question  recurs,  What  will  satisfy  them  ?  Simply  this : 
we  must  not  only  let  them  alone,  but  we  must,  somehow,  con 
vince  them  that  we  do  let  them  alone.  This,  we  know  by  experi 
ence,  is  no  easy  task.  We  have  been  so  trying  to  convince  them 
from  the  very  beginning  of  our  organization,  but  with  no  success. 
.  . .  Alike  unavailing  to  convince  them  is  the  fact  that  they  have 
never  detected  a  man  of  us  in  any  attempt  to  disturb  them. 

These  natural  and  apparently  adequate  means  all  failing,  what 
will  convince  them  ?  This,  and  this  only :  cease  to  call  slavery 
wrong,  and  join  them  in  calling  it  right.  And  this  must  be  done 
thoroughly,  done  in  acts  as  well  as  in  words.  Silence  will  not  be 
tolerated;  we  must  place  ourselves  avowedly  with  them.  Senator 
Douglas'  new  sedition  law  must  be  enacted  and  enforced,  sup 
pressing  all  declarations  that  slavery  is  wrong,  whether  made  in 
politics,  in  presses,'  in  pulpits,  or  in  private.  We  must  arrest  and 
return  their  fugitive  slaves  with  greedy  pleasure.  We  must  pull 
down  our  free-State  constitutions.  The  whole  atmosphere  must 
be  disinfected  from  all  taint  of  opposition  to  slavery  before  they 
will  cease  to  believe  that  all  their  troubles  proceed  from  us. 

I  am  quite  aware  they  do  not  state  their  case  precisely  in  this 
way.  Most  of  them  would  probably  say  to  us,  "  Let  us  alone, 
do  nothing  to  us,  and  say  what  you  please  about  slavery."  But 
we  do  let  them  alone  —  have  never  disturbed  them ;  so  that, 
after  all,  it  is  what  we  say  that  dissatisfies  them.  .  .  . 

1  Referring  to  John  Brown's  "  raid  "  of  the  previous  autumn.  See 
Muzzey,  An  American  History,  pp.  321-322. 


380  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

I  am  also  aware  that  they  have  not  yet,  in  terms,  demanded 
the  overthrow  of  our  free-State  constitutions.  .  . .  [But]  demand 
ing  what  they  do,  and  for  the  reason  they  do,  they  can  volun 
tarily  stop  nowhere  short  of  this  consummation.1  Holding  as 
they  do  that  slavery  is  morally  right,  and  socially  elevating,  they 
cannot  cease  to  demand  a  full  national  recognition  of  it,  as  a 
legal  right  and  a  social  blessing. 

Nor  can  we  justifiably  withhold  this  on  any  ground,  save  our 
conviction  that  slavery  is  wrong.  If  slavery  is  right,  all  words, 
acts,  laws,  and  constitutions  against  it  are  themselves  wrong,  and 
should  be  silenced  and  swept  away.  If  it  is  right,  we  cannot 
justly  object  to  its  nationality  —  its  universality !  if  it  is  wrong, 
they  cannot  justly  insist  on  its  extension  —  its  enlargement.  All 
they  ask  we  could  readily  grant,  if  we  thought  slavery  right; 
all  we  ask  they  could  as  readily  grant,  if  they  thought  it  wrong. 
Their  thinking  it  right,  and  our  thinking  it  wrong,  is  the  precise 
fact  upon  which  depends  the  whole  controversy.  .  .  .  Can  we 
cast  our  votes  with  their  view  and  against  our  own  ?  In  view 
of  our  moral,  social,  and  political  responsibilities,  can  we  do  this  ? 

Wrong  as  we  think  slavery  is,  we  can  yet  afford  to  let  slavery 
alone  where  it  is,  because  that  much  is  due  to  the  necessity  arising 
from  its  actual  presence  in  the  nation ;  but  can  we,  while  our 
votes  will  prevent  it,  allow  it  to  spread  into  the  national  Terri 
tories,  and  to  overrun  us  here  in  the  free  States  ?  If  our  sense 
of  duty  forbids  this,  then  let  us  stand  by  our  duty,  fearlessly  and 
effectively.  Let  us  be  diverted  by  none  of  those  sophistical  con 
trivances  wherewith  we  are  so  industriously  plied  and  belabored, 
contrivances  such  as  groping  for  some  middle  ground  between 
the  right  and  the  wrong,  vain  as  the  search  for  a  man  who  should 

1  In  a  speech  at  Springfield,  Illinois,  June  16,  1858,  accepting  the 
nomination  for  the  United  States  senatorship,  Lincoln  had  expressed 
the  idea  thus  :  "  *  A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.'  I  believe 
this  government  cannot  endure  permanently  half  slave  and  half  free. 
I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved  —  I  do  not  expect  the  house 
to  fall  —  but  I  do  expect  it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will  become  all 
one  thing,  or  all  the  other.  Either  the  opponents  of  slavery  will  arrest 
the  further  spread  of  it  ...  or  its  advocates  will  push  it  forward  till  it 
shall  become  alike  lawful  in  all  the  States,  old  as  well  as  new  —  North  as 
well  as  South."  —  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Abraham  Lincoln,  Vol.  II,  p.  137. 


Secession  381 

be  neither  a  living  man  nor  a  dead  man,  such  a  policy  of  "  don't 
care,"  on  a  question  about  which  all  true  men  do  care,  such  as 
Union  appeals  beseeching  true  Union  men  to  yield  to  Disunion ; 
reversing  the  divine  rule,  and  calling  not  the  sinners  but  the 
righteous  to  repentance ;  such  as  invocations  to  Washington, 
imploring  men  to  unsay  what  Washington  said  and  to  undo 
what  Washington  did. 

Neither  let  us  be  slandered  from  our  duty  by  false  accusations 
against  us,  nor  frightened  from  it  by  menaces  of  destruction  to 
the  Government  nor  of  dungeons  to  ourselves.  Let  us  have  faith 
that  right  makes  might,  and  in  that  faith,  let  us,  to  the  end,  dare 
to  do  our  duty  as  we  understand  it. 

Between  the  Cooper  Institute  speech  and  the  first  in 
augural  address  (from  which  the  following  extract  is  taken) 
events  had  moved  rapidly.  Lincoln  had  been  nominated 
and  elected,  South  Carolina  and  six  of  her  sister  states  of 
the  South  had  seceded  from  the  Union,  a  Confederate 
government  had  been  organized,  and  the  batteries  in 
Charleston  harbor  had  fired  on  the  Star  of  the  West 
bearing  supplies  to  Fort  Sumter  under  the  American  flag. 
Lincoln's  magnificent  plea  for  calm  deliberation  and  patient 
hope  of  harmony  came  too  late. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  : 

.  .  .  Apprehension  seems  to  exist  among  the  people  of  the 
Southern  States  that  by  the  accession  of  a  Republican  Adminis 
tration  their  property  and  their  peace  and  personal  security  are 
to  be  endangered.  There  has  never  been  any  reasonable  cause 
for  such  apprehension.  Indeed,  the  most  ample  evidence  to  the 
contrary  has  all  the  while  existed  and  been  open  to  their  inspec 
tion.  It  is  found  in  nearly  all  the  published  speeches  of  him  who 
now  addresses  you.  I  do  but  quote  from  one  of  these  speeches 
when  I  declare  that  "  I  have  no  purpose,  directly  or  indirectly, 
to  interfere  with  the  institution  of  slavery  in  the  States  where 
it  exists.  I  believe  I  have  no  lawful  right  to  do  so,  and  I  have 
no  inclination  to  do  so."  ...  I  now  reiterate  these  sentiments. 


382  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

...  I  add,  too,  that  all  the  protection  which,  consistently  with 
the  Constitution  and  the  laws,  can  be  given  will  cheerfully  be 
given  to  all  the  States,  when  lawfully  demanded,  for  whatever 
cause  —  as  cheerfully  to  one  section  as  to  another.  .  .  . 

I  hold  that  in  contemplation  of  universal  law  and  of  the  Con 
stitution,  the  Union  of  these  States  is  perpetual.  .  .  .  The  Union 
is  much  older  than  the  Constitution.  It  was  formed,  in  fact,  by 
the  Articles  of  Association  in  1774.  It  was  matured  and  con 
tinued  by  the  Declaration  of  Independence  in  1776.  It  was 
further  matured,  and  the  faith  of  all  the  then  thirteen  States 
expressly  plighted  and  engaged  that  it  should  be  perpetual,  by 
the  Articles  of  Confederation  in  1778.  And  finally,  in  1787, 
one  of  the  declared  objects  for  ordaining  and  establishing  the 
Constitution  was  "  to  form  a  more  perfect  Union" 

But  if  destruction  of  the  Union  by  one  or  by  a  part  only  of 
the  States  be  lawfully  possible,  then  the  Union  is  less  perfect 
than  before  the  Constitution,  having  lost  the  vital  element  of 
perpetuity.  .  .  . 

It  follows  from  these  views  that  no  State  upon  its  own  mere 
motion  can  lawfully  get  out  of  the  Union ;  that  resolves  and  ordi 
nances  to  that  effect  are  legally  void,  and  that  acts  of  violence  within 
any  State  or  States  against  the  authority  of  the  United  States  are 
insurrectionary  or  revolutionary  according  to  circumstances. 

I  therefore  consider  that  in  view  of  the  Constitution  and  the 
laws,  the  Union  is  unbroken,  and  to  the  extent  of  my  ability 
I  shall  take  care,  as  the  Constitution  itself  expressly  enjoins  on 
me,  that  the  laws  of  the  Union  be  faithfully  executed  in  all  the 
States.  .  .  . 

In  doing  this  there  needs  to  be  no  bloodshed  or  violence,  and 
there  shall  be  none  unless  it  be  forced  upon  the  national 
authority.  .  .  . 

That  there  are  persons  in  one  section  or  another  who  seek  to 
destroy  the  Union  at  all  events  and  are  glad  of  any  pretext  to 
do  it,  I  will  neither  affirm  nor  deny * ;  but  if  there  be  such,  I 

1  Lincoln  might  have  affirmed  it  with  perfect  truth.  Only  two  days 
before  he  made  this  inaugural  address  Senator  Wigfall  of  Texas  made 
the  following  remarks  in  the  United  States  Senate :  "  This  Federal  Gov 
ernment  is  dead.  .  .  .  Believing  —  no,  sir,  not  believing,  but  knowing  — 


Secession  383 

need  address  no  word  to  them.  To  those,  however,  who  really 
love  the  Union  may  I  not  speak  ?  .  .  . 

Physically  speaking,  we  cannot  separate.  We  cannot  remove 
our  respective  sections  from  each  other  nor  build  an  impassable 
wall  between  them.  A  husband  and  wife  may  be  divorced  and 
go  out  of  the  presence  and  beyond  the  reach  of  each  other,  but 
the  different  parts  of  our  country  cannot  do  this.  They  cannot 
but  remain  face  to  face,  and  intercourse,  either  amicable  or  hos 
tile,  must  continue  between  them.  Is  it  possible  then  to  make 
that  intercourse  more  advantageous  or  more  satisfactory  after 
separation  than  beforet  Can  aliens  make  treaties  easier  than 
friends  can  make  laws  ?  .  .  . 

This  country,  with  its  institutions,  belongs  to  the  people  who 
inhabit  it.  Whenever  they  shall  grow  weary  of  the  existing  Gov 
ernment,  they  can  exercise  their  constitutional  right  of  amending 
it,  or  their  revolutionary  right  to  dismember  and  overthrow  it. 
.  .  .  The  Chief  Magistrate  derives  all  his  authority  from  the 
people,  and  they  have  conferred  none  upon  him  to  fix  terms  for 
the  separation  of  the  States.  .  .  .  His  duty  is  to  administer  the 
present  Government  as  it  came  to  his  hands  and  to  transmit  it 
unimpaired  by  him  to  his  successor.  .  .  . 

Why  should  there  not  be  a  patient  confidence  in  the  ultimate 
justice  of  the  people  ?  Is  there  any  better  or  equal  hope  in  the 
world  ?  .  .  /} 

By  the  frame  of  the  Government  under  which  we  live  this 
same  people  have  wisely  given  their  public  servants  but  little 
power  for  mischief,  and  have  with  equal  wisdom  provided  for 

that  this  Union  is  dissolved,  never,  never  to  be  reconstructed  on  any 
terms  —  not  if  you  were  to  hand  us  blank  paper,  and  ask  us  to  write  a 
Constitution,  would  we  ever  again  be  confederated  with  you.  .  .  .  Our 
objection  to  living  in  this  Union  is  ...  that  you  wholly  and  utterly  mis 
apprehend  the  form  of  government.  You  deny  the  sovereignty  of  the 
States  ;  you  deny  the  right  of  self-government  in  the  people  ;  you  insist 
upon  negro  equality ;  your  people  interfere  impertinently  with  our  in 
stitutions  and  attempt  to  subvert  them ;  you  publish  newspapers ;  you 
deliver  lectures ;  you  print  pamphlets,  and  you  send  them  among  us, 
first  to  excite  our  slaves  to  insurrection  against  their  masters,  and  next 
to  array  one  class  of  citizens  against  the  other."  —  Congressional  Globe, 
36th  Congress,  2d  session,  pp.  1399-1400. 


384  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

the  return  of  that  little  to  their  own  hands  at  very  short  in 
tervals.  While  the  people  retain  their  virtue  and  vigilence  no 
Administration  by  any  extreme  of  wickedness  or  folly  can 
very  seriously  injure  the  Government  in  the  short  space  of 
four  years. 

My  countrymen,  one  and  all,  think  calmly  and  well  upon  this 
whole  subject.  Nothing  valuable  can  be  lost  by  taking  time.  If 
there  be  an  object  to  hurry  any  of  you  in  hot  haste  to  a  step 
which  you  would  never  take  deliberately,  that  object  will  be  frus 
trated  by  taking  time ;  but  no  good  object  can  be  frustrated  by 
it.  Such  of  you  as  are  now  dissatisfied  still  have  the  old  Con 
stitution  unimpaired,  and,  on  the  sensitive  point,  the  laws  of  your 
own  framing  under  it ;  while  the  new  Administration  will  have 
no  immediate  power,  if  it  would,  to  change  either.  If  it  were 
admitted  that  you  who  are  dissatisfied  hold  the  right  side  in  the 
dispute,  still  there  is  no  single  good  reason  for  precipitate  ac 
tion.  Intelligence,  patriotism,  Christianity,  and  a  firm  reliance 
on  Him  who  has  never  yet  forsaken  this  favored  land  are  still 
competent  to  adjust  in  the  best  way  all  our  present  difficulty. 

In  your  hands,  my  dissatisfied  fellow-countrymen,  and  not  in 
mine,  is  the  momentous  issue  of  civil  war.  The  Government 
will  not  assail  you.  You  can  have  no  conflict  without  being 
yourselves  the  aggressors.  You  have  no  oath  registered  in 
heaven  to  destroy  the  Government,  while  /"shall  have  the  most 
solemn  one  to  "  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  "  it. 

I  am  loath  to  close.  W7e  are  not  enemies,  but  friends.  We 
must  not  be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have  strained,  it 
must  not  break  our  bonds  of  affection.  The  mystic  chords  of 
memory,  stretching  from  every  battle-field  and  every  patriot 
grave,  to  every  living  heart  and  hearthstone  all  over  this  broad 
land,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union,  when  again  touched, 
as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better  angels  of  our  nature. 

88.  The  Murat  Halstead,  a  distinguished  journalist,  made  the 

Chicago  COn-     ^^      •          •,!_        r    ji  ..  •  »•          i  .TO/- 

vention,  circuit  of  the  conventions     in  the  summer  of  1860,  as 

May  16-18,     correspondent  for  the  Cincinnati  Commercial.    Later  in 
the  year  he  compiled,  from  his  own  lively  letters  and  the 


Secession 

official  reports,  a  "  History  of  the  National  Political  Con 
ventions  of  the  Current  Presidential  Campaign."  Of  the 
exciting  scenes  which  attended  the  nomination  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  he  writes  : 

The  crowd  this  evening  is  becoming  prodigious.  The  Tre- 
mont  House  is  so  crammed  that  it  is  with  much  difficulty  peo 
ple  get  about  in  it  from  one  room  to  another.  Near  fifteen 
hundred  people  will  sleep  in  it  tonight.  The  principal  lions  in 
this  house  are  Horace  Greeley  and  Frank  P.  Blair,  Sen.  The 
way  Greeley  is  stared  at  as  he  shuffles  about,  looking  as  inno 
cent  as  ever,  is  itself  a  sight.  Whenever  he  appears  there  is  a 
crowd  gaping  at  him,  and  if  he  stops  to  talk  a  minute  with  some 
one  who  wishes  to  consult  him  as  the  oracle,  the  crowd  becomes 
dense  as  possible,  and  there  is  the  most  eager  desire  to  hear  the 
words  of  wisdom  that  are  supposed  to  fall  on  such  occasions.  .  . . 

The  city  of  Chicago  is  attending  to  this  Convention  in  magnif 
icent  style.  It  is  a  great  place  for  large  hotels,  and  all  have 
their  capacity  for  accommodation  tested.  The  great  feature  is 
the  Wigwam,  erected  within  the  past  month,  expressly  for  the 
use  of  the  Convention,  by  the  Republicans  of  Chicago,  at  a  cost 
of  seven  thousand  dollars.  It  is  a  small  edition  of  the  New 
York  Crystal  Palace,  built  of  boards,  and  will  hold  ten  thou 
sand  persons  comfortably,  and  is  admirable  for  its  acoustic 
excellence.  An  ordinary  voice  can  be  heard  through  the  whole 
structure  with  ease.  .  .  . 

The  current  of  Universal  twaddle  this  morning  is  that  "  Old 
Abe  "  will  be  the  nominee.  .  .  .  The  badges  of  different  candi 
dates  are  making  their  appearance,  and  a  good  many  of  the 
dunces  of  the  occasion  go  about  duly  labelled.  I  saw  an  old 
man  this  morning  with  a  woodcut  of  Edward  Bates  pasted  out 
side  his  hat.  The  Seward  men  have  a  badge  of  silk  with  his 
likeness  and  name,  and  some  wag  pinned  one  of  them  to  Horace 
Greeley's  back  yesterday.1 .  . .  The  hour  for  the  meeting  of  the 

1  Greeley,  the  very  influential  editor  of  the  New  York  Tribune,  was 
bitterly  opposed  to  Seward.  He  favored  the  nomination  of  Edward  Bates 
of  Missouri.  Still,  the  Seward  forces  were  so  well  organized  and  espe 
cially  so  well  supplied  with  funds,  that  it  seemed  the  night  before  the 


386  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

Convention  approaches,  and  the  agitation  of  the  city  is  exceed 
ingly  great.  Vast  as  the  Wigwam  is,  not  one  fifth  of  those  who 
would  be  glad  to  get  inside  can  be  accommodated.  .  .  . 

Horace  Greeley  and  Eli  Thayer  have  agreed  upon  the  follow 
ing  resolution,  which  Greeley  is  at  work  to  make  one  of  the 
planks  of  the  platform :  "  Resolved,  That  holding  liberty  to  be 
the  natural  birthright  of  every  human  being,  we  maintain  that 
slavery  can  only  exist  where  it  has  been  previously  established 
by  laws  constitutionally  enacted  ;  and  we  are  inflexibly  opposed 
to  its  establishment  in  the  Territories  by  legislative,  executive  or 
judicial  intervention.  ..." 

When  the  Convention  was  called  to  order  [the  third  day], 
breathless  attention  was  given  the  proceedings.  There  was  not 
a  space  a  foot  square  in  the  Wigwam  unoccupied.  There  were 
tens  of  thousands  still  outside.  ...  Mr.  Evarts  of  New  York 
nominated  Mr.  Seward,  Mr.  Judd  of  Illinois  nominated  Mr.  Lin 
coln  .  .  .  the  only  names  that  produced  "  tremendous  applause  " 
were  those  of  Seward  and  Lincoln.  Everybody  felt  that  the 
fight  was  between  them,  and  yelled  accordingly.  .  .  . 

The  division  of  the  first  vote x  caused  a  fall  in  Seward  stock. 
It  was  seen  that  Lincoln,  Cameron,  and  Bates  had  the  strength 
to  defeat  Seward,  and  it  was  known  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
Chase  vote  would  go  to  Lincoln.  .  .  . 

The  Convention  proceeded  to  a  second  ballot.  .  .  .  On  this 
ballot  Lincoln  gained  seventy-nine  votes!  Seward  had  184^ 
votes;  Lincoln  181.  .  .  .  It  now  dawned  upon  the  multitude, 
that  the  presumption  entertained  the  night  before,  that  the  Sew 
ard  men  would  have  everything  their  own  way,  was  a  mistake. . . . 

While  this  [third]  ballot  was  taken  amid  excitement  that  tested 
the  nerves. ...  it  was  whispered  about — "Lincoln's  the  coming 

balloting  as  though  the  New  Yorker  would  be  chosen.  Greeley  tele 
graphed  to  the  Tribune  at  11.40  P.M.:  "My  conclusion  from  all  I  can 
gather  tonight  is  that  the  opposition  to  Gov.  Seward  cannot  concentrate 
on  any  candidate,  and  that  he  will  be  nominated.  —  H.G."  —  J.  F.Rhodes, 
History  of  the  United  States  from  the  Compromise  of  1850,  Vol.  II, 

P-  465- 

1  The  vote  was :  Seward  173$,  Lincoln  102,  Cameron  50^,  Chase  49, 
Bates  48,  with  scattering  votes  for  seven  other  candidates. 


Secession 

man ;  he  will  be  nominated  this  ballot."  When  the  roll  of  States 
and  Territories  had  been  called,  1  had  ceased  to  give  attention  to 
any  votes  but  those  for  Lincoln,  and  had  his  vote  added  up  as 
it  was  given.  The  number  of  votes  necessary  to  a  choice  were 
233,  and  I  saw  under  my  pencil  as  the  Lincoln  column  was 
completed,  the  figures  231^  — only  a'vote  and  a  half  to  give 
him  the  nomination.  ...  In  about  ten  ticks  of  a  watch,  Cartter 
of  Ohio  was  up.  ...  He  said :  "  I  rise,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  an 
nounce  the  change  of  four  votes  of  Ohio  from  Mr.  Chase  to 
Mr.  Lincoln.  The  deed  was  done.  The  nerves  of  the  thousands, 
which  through  hours  of  suspense  had  been  subjected  to  terrible 
tension,  relaxed,  and  as  the  deep  breaths  of  relief  were  taken, 
there  was  a  noise  in  the  Wigwam  like  the  rush  of  a  great  wind, 
in  the  van  of  a  storm  —  and  in  another  breath,  the  storm  was 
there.  There  were  thousands  cheering  with  the  energy  of 
insanity.  .  .  . 

The  fact  of  the  Convention  was  the  defeat  of  Seward  rather 
than  the  nomination  of  Lincoln.  It  was  the  triumph  of  a 
presumption  of  availability  over  preeminence  in  intellect  and 
unrivalled  fame — a  success  of  the  ruder  qualities  of  manhood 
and  the  more  homely  attributes  of  popularity  over  the  arts 
of  a  consummate  politician,  and  the  splendor  of  accomplished 
statesmanship.1 

Now  that  the  business  of  the  Convention  was  transacted, 
we  had  the  usual  stump  speeches,  and  complimentary  reso 
lutions The  city  was  wild  with  delight.  The  "  Old  Abe  " 

men  formed  processions,  and  bore  rails  through  the  streets 

A  hundred  guns  were  fired  from  the  top  of  the  Tremont  House. 
The  Chicago  Press  and  Tribune  office  was  illuminated.  That 
paper  says :  "  On  each  side  of  the  counting-room  door  stood  a 

1  One  enthusiastic  Lincoln  man  went  shouting  through  the  Tremont 
House:  "Talk  of  your  money,  and  bring  on  your  bullies  with  you 
[Seward's  marchers] !  the  immortal  principles  of  the  everlasting  people 
are  with  Abe  Lincoln,  by  — !  "  The  Southern  politicians  were  disgusted 
and  exasperated  by  Lincoln's  nomination.  Senator  Wigfall  sneered  in 
the  Senate  at  the  "  ex-rail-splitter,  ex-grocery-keeper,  ex-flatboat  cap 
tain,  and  ex- Abolitionist-lecturer." —  Congressional  Globe,  36th  Congress, 
2d  session,  p.  1400. 


388  Tke  Crisis  of  Disunion 

rail — out  of  the  three  thousand  split  by  'honest  Old  Abe' 
thirty  years  ago  on  the  Sangamon  River  bottoms.  On  the 
inside  were  two  more,  brilliantly  hung  with  tapers. 

I  left  the  city  on  the  night  train  on  the  Fort  Wayne  and 
Chicago  road.  The  train  consisted  of  eleven  cars,  every  seat 
full  and  people  standing  in  the  aisles  and  corners.  ...  At  every 
station  where  there  was  a  village  until  after  two  o'clock  there 
were  tar  barrels  burning,  drums  beating,  boys  carrying  rails ; 
and  guns,  great  and  small,  banging  away. 

89.  A  South-       Honorable  Alexander  H.  Stephens  of  Georgia,  later 
Vice  President  of  the  Confederacy,  was  the  last  of  the 


November  14,  distinguished  Southern  statesmen  to  give  up  hope  for  the 
peaceful  adjustment  of  the  differences  between  North  and 

|3ZoJ 

South.     In  a  speech   before  the   Georgia  legislature;   a 
week  after  Lincoln's  election,  he  said  : 

.  .  .  The  first  question  that  presents  itself  is,  Shall  the  people 
of  Georgia  secede  from  the  Union  in  consequence  of  the  election 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States  ?  My 
countrymen,  I  tell  you  frankly,  candidly,  and  earnestly,  that  I 
do  not  think  they  ought.  In  my  judgment,  the  election  of  no 
man,  constitutionally  chosen  to  that  high  office,  is  sufficient 
cause  to  justify  any  State  to  separate  from  the  Union.  It 
ought  to  stand  by  and  aid  still  in  maintaining  the  Constitution 
of  the  country.  ...  If  all  our  hopes  are  to  be  blasted,  if  the 
Republic  is  to  go  down,  let  us  be  found  to  the  last  moment 
standing  on  the  deck  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
waving  over  our  heads.  Let  the  fanatics  of  the  North  break  the 
Constitution,  if  such  is  their  fell  purpose.  Let  the  responsibility 
be  with  them.  .  .  .  We  went  into  the  election  with  this  people. 
The  result  was  different  from  what  we  wished ;  but  the  election 
has  been  constitutionally  held.  Were  we  to  make  a  point  of  re 
sistance  to  the  Government,  and  go  out  of  the  Union  merely  on 
that  account,  the  record  would  be  made  up  hereafter  against  us. 

But  it  is  said  Mr.  Lincoln's  policy  and  principles  are  against 
the  Constitution,  and  that,  if  he  carries  them  out,  it  will  be  de 
structive  of  our  rights.  Let  us  not  anticipate  a  threatened  evil. 


Secession 

If  he  violates  the  Constitution,  then  will  come  our  time  to  act. .  . . 
I  do  not  anticipate  that  Mr.  Lincoln  will  clo  anything  to  jeopard 
our  safety  or  security,  whatever  may  be  his  spirit  to  do  it ;  for 
he  is  bound  by  the  Constitutional  checks  which  are  thrown 
around  him,  which  at  this  time  render  him  powerless  to  do  any 
great  mischief.  This  shows  the  wisdom  of  our  system.  The 
President  of  the  United  States  is  no  Emperor  —  no  Dictator. 
He  is  clothed  with  no  absolute  power.  He  can  do  nothing 
unless  he  is  backed  by  power  in  Congress.  The  House  of 
Representatives  is  largely  in  a  majority  against  him.  .  .  .  The 
gains  in  the  Democratic  party  in  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  New 
Jersey,  New  York,  Indiana,  and  other  States  .  .  .  have  been 
enough  to  make  a  majority  of  near  thirty  in  the  next  House 
against  Mr.  Lincoln.  .  .  . 

In  the  Senate  he  will  also  be  powerless.  There  will  be  a 
majority  of  four  against  him.  .  .  .  Mr.  Lincoln  cannot  appoint 
an  officer  without  the  consent  of  the  Senate,  he  cannot  form  a 
Cabinet  without  the  same  consent.  .  .  .  Why  then,  I  say,  should 
we  disrupt  the  ties  of  this  Union,  when  his  hands  are  tied  — 
when  he  can  do  nothing  against  us  ? 

My  honorable  friend  who  addressed  you  last  night  [Mr. 
Toombs]1  and  to  whom  I  listened  with  the  profoundest  attention, 

1  Senator  Robert  Toombs,  a  Union  man  in  1850,  had  given  up  hope 
of  preserving  the  Union.  He  went  back  to  Washington  in  December, 
1860,  but  after  the  failure  of  the  Crittenden  amendments  he  telegraphed 
to  the  citizens  of  Georgia,  December  23,  1860  :  "  I  came  here  to  secure 
your  constitutional  rights  or  to  demonstrate  to  you  that  you  can  get  no 
guarantees  for  these  rights  from  your  Northern  confederates.  The 
whole  subject  was  referred  to  a  committee  of  13  in  the  Senate  yes 
terday.  I  was  appointed  ...  I  submitted  propositions  which  .  .  . 
were  all  treated  with  derision  or  contempt.  .  .  .  The  committee  is  con 
trolled  by  Black  Republicans,  your  enemies,  who  only  seek  to  amuse 
you  with  delusive  hope  until  your  election  [to  a  state  convention]  in 
order  that  you  may  defeat  the  friends  of  secession.  ...  I  tell  you  upon 
the  faith  of  a  true  man,  that  all  further  looking  to  the  North  for  security 
for  your  constitutional  rights  in  this  Union  ought  to  be  instantly  aban 
doned.  .  .  .  Secession  by  the  4th  of  March  next  should  be  thundered 
from  the  ballot-box  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  Georgia." — U.  B.  Phillips, 
Correspondence  of  Toombs,  Stephens,  and  Cobb,  Annual  Report  of 
the  American  Historical  Association,  1911,  Vol.  II,  p.  525. 


39°  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

asks  if  we  would  submit  to  Black  Republican  rule  ?  I  say  to 
you  and  to  him,  as  a  Georgian,  I  never  would  submit  to  any 
Black  Republican  aggression  upon  our  Constitutional  rights  .  .  . ; 
and  if  they  cannot  be  maintained  in  the  Union  standing  on  the 
Georgia  Platform  [see  No.  8 1,  p.  352],  where  I  have  stood  from 
the  time  of  its  adoption,  I  would  be  in  favor  of  disrupting  every 
tie  which  binds  the  States  together.  I  will  have  equality  for 
Georgia,  and  for  the  citizens  of  Georgia,  in  this  Union,  or  I  will 
look  for  new  safeguards  elsewhere.  This  is  my  position.  The 
only  question  now  is,  Can  this  be  secured  in  the  Union  ? . .  .  In 
my  judgment,  it  may  yet  be.  ... 

My  countrymen,  I  am  not  of  those  who  believe  this  Union 
has  been  a  curse  up  to  this  time.  True  men,  men  of  integrity, 
entertain  different  views  from  me  on  this  subject.  .  .  .  Nor  will 
I  undertake  to  say  that  this  Government  of  our  Fathers  is  per 
fect.  There  is  nothing  perfect  in  this  world  of  human  origin.  . . . 
But  that  this  Government  of  our  Fathers,  with  all  its  defects, 
comes  nearer  the  objects  of  all  good  governments  than  any  other 
on  the  face  of  the  earth,  is  my  settled  conviction.  .  .  . 

When  I  look  around  and  see  our  prosperity  in  everything  — 
agriculture,  commerce,  art,  science,  and  every  department  of 
progress  physical,  mental,  and  moral  —  certainly  in  the  face  of 
such  an  exhibition,  if  we  can,  without  the  loss  of  power  or  any 
essential  right  or  interest,  remain  in  the  Union,  it  is  our  duty  to 
ourselves  and  posterity  to  do  so.  ... 

Should  Georgia  determine  to  go  out  of  the  Union  ...  I 
shall  bow  to  the  will  of  her  people.  Their  cause  is  my  cause, 
and  their  destiny  is  my  destiny ;  and  I  trust  this  will  be  the  ulti 
mate  course  of  all.  The  greatest  curse  that  can  befall  a  free 
people  is  civil  war.  .  .  . 

I  am  for  exhausting  all  that  patriotism  demands,  before 
taking  the  last  step.  I  would  invite,  therefore,  South  Carolina 
to  a  conference.  I  would  ask  the  same  of  all  the  other  Southern 
States,  so  that  if  the  evil  has  got  beyond  our  control,  which  God 
in  his  mercy  grant  may  not  be  the  case,  we  may  not  be  divided 
among  ourselves.  ...  In  this  way,  our  sister  Southern  States 
can  be  induced  to  act  with  us  ;  and  I  have  but  little  doubt  that 
the  States  of  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio,  and  the 


Secession  39 r 

other  Western  States,  will  compel  their  Legislatures  to  recede 
from  their  hostile  attitude.  .  .  . 

I  am,  as  you  clearly  perceive,  for  maintaining  the  Union  as 
it  is,  if  possible.  I  will  exhaust  every  means  thus  to  maintain 
it  with  an  equality  in  it.  My  position,  then,  in  conclusion,  is 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  honor,  the  rights,  the  equality,  the 
security,  and  the  glory  of  my  native  State  in  the  Union,  if  pos 
sible.  But  if  all  this  fails,  we  shall  at  least  have  the  satisfaction 
of  knowing  that  we  have  done  our  duty,  and  all  that  patriotism 
could  require. 

THE  SOUTHERN  CONFEDERACY 
That  each  succeeding  census  marked  the  increasing  90.  "The 

•  i_     i     •     crime  of  the 

preponderance  of  population  in  the  free  states,  with  their  North,»  jan- 
correspondingly  increasing  majorities  in  the  presidential  uary»  i«*i 
electoral  columns  and  the  House  of  Representatives,  was 
the  ultimate  offense  of  the  North  in  the  eyes  of  the  South. 
It  was  also  a  "  crime  of  the  North,"  in  the  eyes  of  stern 
antislavery  men,  that  the  nerveless  administration  at  Wash 
ington  should  encourage  a  statesman  of  Georgia  to  "  have 
but  little  doubt  that  the  States  of  New  York,  and  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  Ohio,  and  the  other  Western  States  would 
compel  their  Legislatures  to  recede  from  their  hostile 
attitude  "  toward  slavery.  In  an  article  in  the  Atlantic 
Monthly  for  January,  1861,  James  Russell  Lowell  scourges 
Buchanan  with  scorpions  for  his  subserviency  to  the  slavery 
interests. 

Mr.  Buchanan  seems  to  have  no  opinion,  or,  if  he  has  one 
it  is  a  halting  between  two,  a  bat-like  cross  of  sparrow  and 
mouse,  that  gives  timidity  its  choice  between  flight  and  skulk 
ing.  .  .  .  Mr.  Buchanan,  by  his  training  in  a  system  of  politics 
without  a  parallel  for  intrigue,  personality,  and  partisanship, 
would  have  unfitted  himself  from  taking  a  statesmanlike  view 
of  anything,  even  if  he  had  ever  been  capable  of  it.  .  .  ,  We 


39 2  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

could  not  have  expected  from  him  a  Message1  around  which 
the  spirit,  the  intelligence  and  the  character  of  the  country 
would  have  rallied.  But  he  might  have  saved  himself  from  the 
evil  fame  of  being  the  first  of  our  Presidents  who  could  never 
forget  himself  into  a  feeling  of  the  dignity  of  the  place  he 
occupied.  He  has  always  seemed  to  consider  the  Presidency 
as  a  retaining-fee  paid  him  by  the  slavery-propagandists,  and 
his  Message  to  the  present  Congress  looks  like  the  last  juice- 
less  squeeze  of  the  orange  which  the  South  is  tossing  con 
temptuously  away. 

Mr.  Buchanan  admits  as  real  the  assumed  wrongs  of  the 
South  Carolina  revolutionists,  and  even,  if  we  understand  him, 
allows  that  they  are  great  enough  to  justify  revolution.  But 
he  advises  the  secessionists  to  pause  and  try  what  can  be  done 
by  negotiation.  .  .  . 

In  1832,  General  Jackson  bluntly  called  the  South  Carolina 
doctrines  treason,  and  the  country  sustained  him.  That  they 
are  not  characterized  in  the  same  way  now  does  not  prove  any 
difference  in  the  thing,  but  only  in  the  times  and  the  men. 
They  are  none  the  less  treason  because  James  Buchanan  is  less 
than  Andrew  Jackson,  but  they  are  all  the  more  dangerous.  .  .  . 

The  subservience  on  the  question  of  Slavery,  which  has 
hitherto  characterized  both  the  great  parties  of  the  country, 
has  strengthened  the  hands  of  the  extremists  at  the  South,  and 
has  enabled  them  to  get  control  of  public  opinion  there  by 
fostering  false  notions  of  Southern  superiority  and  Northern 
want  of  principle.  We  have  done  so  much  to  make  them  be 
lieve  in  their  importance  to  us,  and  given  them  so  little  occasion 

1  Referring  to  Buchanan's  last  annual  message  of  December  4,  1860, 
in  which,  after  saying:  "  The  framers  of  this  government  never  intended 
to  implant  in  its  bosom  the  seeds  of  its  own  destruction,"  and,  "  Seces 
sion  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  revolution,"  the  President  goes  on  to 
comfort  the  South  by  the  doctrine  that  Congress  had  no  power  under 
the  Constitution  to  compel  a  State  to  remain  in  the  Union.  Seward  in  a 
letter  to  his  wife,  December  5,  summed  up  the  case  with  humorous 
indignation :  "  The  message  shows  conclusively  that  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  President  to  execute  the  laws  —  unless  somebody  opposes  him  ;  and 
that  no  State  has  a  right  to  go  out  of  the  Union  —  unless  it  wants  to." 
—  F.  W.  Seward,  Life  of  Seward,  Vol.  IT,  p.  480. 


Secession  393 

even  to  suspect  our  importance  to  them,  that  we  have  taught 
them  to  regard  themselves  as  the  natural  rulers  of  the  country, 
and  to  look  upon  the  Union  as  a  favor  granted  to  our  weakness, 
whose  withdrawal  would  be  our  ruin.  Accordingly,  they  have 
grown  more  and  more  exacting,  till  at  length  the  hack  politi 
cians  of  the  Free  States  have  become  so  imbued  with  the  notion 
of  yielding,  and  so  incapable  of  believing  in  any  principle  of 
action  'higher  than  temporary  expedients  to  carry  an  election 
.  .  .  that  Mr.  Buchanan  gravely  proposes  that  the  Republican 
party  should  pacify  South  Carolina  by  surrendering  the  very 
creed  that  called  it  into  existence.  .  .  .  Worse  than  this,  when 
the  Free  States,  by  overwhelming  majorities  have  just  expressed 
their  conviction  that  slavery,  as  the  creature  of  local  law,  can 
claim  no  legitimate  extension  beyond  the  limits  of  that  law,  he 
asks  their  consent  to  denationalize  freedom  and  to  nationalize 
slavery  by  an  amendment  of  the  Federal  Constitution  that  shall 
make  the  local  law  of  the  Slave  States  paramount  throughout 
the  Union.  Mr.  Buchanan  would  stay  the  yellow  fever  by 
abolishing  the  quarantine  hospital  and  planting  a  good  virulent 
case  or  two  in  every  village  in  the  land. 

We  do  not  underestimate  the  gravity  of  the  present  crisis, 
and  we  agree  that  nothing  should  be  done  to  exasperate  it ; 
but  if  the  people  of  the  Free  States  have  been  taught  anything- 
by  the  repeated  lessons  of  bitter  experience,  it  has  been  that 
submission  is  not  the  seed  of  conciliation,  but  of  contempt  and 
encroachment.  The  wolf  never  goes  for  mutton  to  the  mastiff. 
It  is  quite  time  that  it  should  be  understood  that  freedom  is 
also  an  institution  deserving  some  attention  in  a  Model  Republic, 
that  a  decline  in  stocks  is  more  tolerable  and  more  transcient 
than  one  in  public  spirit,  and  that  material  prosperity  was  never 
known  to  abide  long  in  a  country  that  had  lost  its  political 
morality.  The  fault  of  the  Free  States  in  the  eyes  of  the  South 
is  not  one  that  can  be  atoned  for  by  any  yielding  of  special 
points  here  and  there.  Their  offence  is  that  they  are  free,  and 
that  their  habits  and  prepossessions  are  those  of  Freedom. 
Their  crime  is  the  census  of  1860.  Their  increase  in  numbers, 
wealth,  and  power  is  a  standing  aggression.  It  would  not  be 
enough  to  please  the  Southern  States  that  we  should  stop 


394  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

asking  them  to  abolish  Slavery  —  what  they  demand  of  us  is 
nothing  less  than  that  we  should  abolish  the  spirit  of  the  age. 
Our  very  thoughts  are  a  menace.  It  is  not  the  North,  but  the 
South,  that  forever  agitates  the  question  of  Slavery.  ...  It  is 
the  stars  in  their  courses  that  fight  against  their  system,  and 
there  are  those  who  propose  to  make  everything  comfortable 
by  Act  of  Congress.  .  .  . 

A  dissolution  of  the  Union  would  be  a  terrible  thing,  but 
not  so  terrible  as  an  acquiescence  in  the  theory  that  Property 
is  the  only  interest  that  binds  men  together  in  society,  and  that 
its  protection  is  the  highest  object  of  human  government.  .  .  . 

It  is  time  that  the  South  should  learn,  if  they  do  not  begin 
to  suspect  it  already,  that  the  difficulty  of  the  Slavery  question 
is  slavery  itself  —  nothing  more,  nothing  less.  It  is  time  that 
the  North  should  learn  that  it  has  nothing  left  to  compromise 
but  the  rest  of  its  self-respect.  Nothing  will  satisfy  the  ex 
tremists  at  the  South  short  of  a  reduction  of  the  Free  States 
to  a  mere  police  for  the  protection  of  an  institution  whose 
danger  increases  at  an  equal  pace  with  its  wealth.  .  .  .  The 
greatest  danger  of  disunion  would  spring  from  a  want  of  self- 
possession  and  spirit  in  the  Free  States. 

91.  Seces-          In  response  to  many  letters  from  his  fellow  citizens  of 

tScation  and  Georgia,  Honorable  Howell  Cobb,  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 

its  accom-      urv  under  Buchanan,  published  a  pamphlet  of  sixteen  pages 

December,'      in  December,  1860,  entitled,  "  Letter  of  Hon.  Howell  Cobb 

to  the  People  of  Georgia  on  the  Present  Condition  of  the 

Country."    In  it  he  answers  the  specific  question,  Does 

the  election  of  Lincoln  to  the  Presidency,  in  the  usual 

and   constitutional  mode,  justify  the  Southern  States  in 

dissolving  the  Union  ?    After  a  severe  arraignment  of  the 

Black  Republican  party,  he  concludes  : 

What  are  the  facts  to  justify  the  hope  that  the  Black  Re 
publicans  will  recede  from  their  well  defined  position  of  hostility 
to  the  South  and  her  institutions  ?  Are  they  to  be  found  in  the 
two  millions  of  voters  who  have  deliberately  declared  in  favor 


Secession  395 

of  these  doctrines  by  their  support  of  Lincoln  ?  Is  the  hope 
based  upon  the  fact  that  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the 
people  of  every  Northern  State  save  one1  cast  their  vote  for 
the  Black  Republican  candidate  ?  Is  it  drawn  from  the  fact 
that  on  the  fourth  of  March  next  the  chair  of  Washington  is 
to  be  filled  by  a  man  who  hates  the  institution  of  slavery  as 
much  as  any  other  abolitionist,  and  who  has  not  only  declared 
but  used  all  the  powers  of  his  intellect  to  prove  that  our  slaves 
are  our  equals  and  that  all  laws  which  hold  otherwise  are  vio- 
lative  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  at  war  with  the 
law  of  God  —  a  man  who  is  indebted  for  his  present  election 
to  the  Presidency  alone  to  his  abolition  sentiments  —  and  who 
stands  pledged  to  the  doctrine  of  the  "  irrepressible  conflict," 
and  indeed  claims  to  be  its  first  advocate  ?  Or  shall  we  look 
for  this  hope  in  the  whispered  intimation  that  when  secure  in 
his  office,  Lincoln  will  prove  faithless  to  the  principles  of  his 
party  and  false  to  his  own  pledges,  or  in  his  emphatic  declara 
tion  of  May  1859,  that  he  would  oppose  the  lowering  of  the 
Republican  standard  by  a  hair's  breadth,  or  in  the  public  an 
nouncement  made  by  Senator  Trumbull  of  Illinois,  since  the 
election,  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  that  he,  Lincoln,  would 
"  maintain  and  carry  forward  the  principles  on  which  he  was 
elected"  at  the  same  time  holding  up  the  military  power  of  the 
United  States  as  the  instrumentality  to  enforce  obedience  to 
the  incoming  abolition  administration,  should  any  Southern  State 
secede  from  the  Union ;  or  in  the  prospect  of  a  more  efficient 
execution  of  the  fugitive  slave  law,  when  the  marshalPs  offices 
in  all  the  Northern  States  shall  have  been  filled  with  Lincoln's 
abolition  appointees;  or  in  the  refusal  of  Vermont,  since  the 
election  of  Lincoln,  by  the  decisive  vote  of  more  than  two  to 
one  in  her  Legislature,  to  repeal  the  Personal  Liberty  Bill  of 

1  That  is,  New  Jersey,  in  which  Douglas  received  three  electoral 
votes.  The  statement  is  a  gross  exaggeration.  "  Overwhelming  majori 
ties"  can  hardly  be  spoken  of  in  the  light  of  the  following  figures:  in 
New  York,  Lincoln  362,646,  Douglas  312,510;  in  Illinois,  Lincoln 
172,161,  Douglas  160,215;  in  Indiana,  Lincoln  139,033,  Douglas,  115,509; 
in  New  Hampshire,  Lincoln  37,519,  Douglas  25,881  ;  in  California, 
Lincoln  39,173,  Douglas  38,516. 


396  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

that  State  ...  or  shall  we  be  pointed  to  the  defiant  tones  of 
triumph  which  fill  the  whole  Northern  air  with  the  wild  shouts 
of  joy  and  thanksgiving  that  the  days  of  slavery  are  numbered, 
and  the  hour  draws  nigh  when  the  "  higher  law  "  and  "  hatred 
of  slavery  and  slaveholders  "  shall  be  substituted  for  "  the  Con 
stitution  "  and  the  spirit  of  former  brotherhood ;  or  to  the  cold 
irony  which  speaks  through  their  press  of  the  "  inconvenience  " 
of  negro  insurrections,  arson,  and  murder  which  may  result  in 
the  South  from  the  election  of  Lincoln.  .  .  . 

I  refer  to  one  other  source  upon  which  the  South  is  asked 
to  rely,  and  will  then  close  the  argument.  We  are  expected,  in 
view  of  all  these  ^acts,  to  rely  for  our  safety  and  protection 
upon  an  uncertain  and  at  best  trembling  majority  in  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress,  and  told,  with  an  earnest  appeal  for  further 
delay,  that  with  a  majority  in  Congress  against  him  Lincoln  is 
powerless  to  do  us  harm.1 ...  It  is  true  that  without  a  majority 
in  Congress  Lincoln  will  not  be  able  to  carry  out  at  present  all 
the  aggressive  measures  of  his  party.  But  let  me  ask  if  that 
feeble  and  constantly-decreasing  majority  in  Congress  against 
him  can  arrest  that  tide  of  popular  sentiment  at  the  North 
against  slavery,  which,  sweeping  down  all  barriers  of  truth, 
justice,  and  constitutional  duty,  has  borne  Mr.  Lincoln  into  the 
presidential  chair?  Can  that  Congressional  majority,  faint  and 
feeble  as  it  is  known  to  be,  repeal  the  unconstitutional  legisla 
tion  of  those  ten  nullifying  States  of  the  North  ? 2  Can  it  restore 
the  lost  equality  of  the  Southern  States  ?  .  .  .  Can  it  control  the 
power  and  patronage  of  President  Lincoln  ?  .  .  .  Can  it  exercise 
its  power  in  one  single  act  of  legislation  in  our  favor  without 
the  concurrence  of  Lincoln  ? . . .  True  but  over-anxious  friends  of 
"Union  at  the  North,  faithful  but  over-confiding  men  of  the  South, 
may  catch  at  this  Congressional  majority  straw,  but  it  will  only 
be  to  grasp  and  sink  with  it. 

The  facts  and  considerations  which  I  have  endeavored  to 
bring  to  your  view  present  the  propriety  of  resistance  on  the 

1  See  the  argument  of  Alexander  H.  Stephens  in  his  speech  of  No 
vember  14,  1860  (No.  89,  p.  388). 

2  That  is,  the  Northern  states  which  by  their  Personal  Liberty  bills 
had  "  nullified  "  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  of  1850. 


Secession  397 

part  of  the  South  to  the  election  of  Lincoln  in  a  very  different 
light  from  the  mere  question  of  resisting  the  election  of  a  Presi 
dent  who  has  been  chosen  in  the  usual  and  constitutional  mode. 
It  is  not  simply  that  a  comparatively  obscure  abolitionist,  who 
hates  the  institutions  of  the  South,  has  been  elected  President 
.  .  .  that  the  South  contemplates  resistance  even  to  disunion. 
Wounded  honor  might  tolerate  the  outrage  until  by  another 
vote  of  the  people  the  nuisance  could  be  abated.  But  the  elec 
tion  of  Mr.  Lincoln  involves  far  higher  considerations.  It  brings 
to  the  South  the  solemn  judgment  of  a  majority  of  the  people 
of  every  Northern  State  —  with  a  solitary  exception  —  in  favor 
of  doctrines  and  principles  violative  of  her  constitutional  rights, 
humiliating  to  her  pride,  destructive  of  her  equality  in  the  Union, 
and  fraught  with  the  greatest  danger  to  the  peace  and  safety 
of  her  people.  It  can  be  regarded  in  no  other  light  than  a  declara 
tion  of  the  purpose  and  intention  of  the  North  to  continue,  with 
the  power  of  the  Federal  Government,  the  war  already  com 
menced  by  the  ten  nullifying  States  of  the  North  upon  the  institu 
tion  of  slavery  and  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  South.  .  .  . 

The  issue  must  now  be  met,  or  forever  abandoned.  Equality 
and  safety  in  the  Union  are  at  an  end ;  and  it  only  remains  to 
be  seen  whether  our  manhood  is  equal  to  the  task  of  asserting 
and  maintaining  independence  out  of  it.  The  Union  formed  by 
our  Fathers  was  one  of  equality,  justice,  and  fraternity.  On  the 
fourth  of  March  it  will  be  supplanted  by  a  Union  of  sectionalism 
and  hatred.  .  .  .  Black  Republicanism  has  buried  brotherhood  in 
the  same  grave  with  the  Constitution.  We  are  no  longer  "  breth 
ren  dwelling  together  in  unity."  The  ruling  spirits  of  the  North 
are  Black  Republicans  —  and  between  them  and  the  people  of 
the  South  there  is  no  other  feeling  than  that  of  bitter  and  in 
tense  hatred.  Aliens  in  heart,  no  power  on  earth  can  keep  them 
united.  Nothing  now  holds  us  together  but  the  cold  formalities 
of  a  broken  and  violated  Constitution.  Heaven  has  pronounced 
the  decree  of  divorce,  and  it  will  be  accepted  by  the  South  as 
the  only  solution  which  gives  to  her  a  promise  of  future  peace 
and  safety.  .  .  . 

Fellow-citizens  of  Georgia,  I  have  endeavored  to  place  before 
you  the  facts  of  the  case  in  plain  and  unimpassioned  language. .  . . 


39s  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

On  the  4th  of  March  1861,  the  Government  will  pass  into  the 
hands  of  the  Abolitionists.  It  will  then  cease  to  have  the  slightest 
claim  either  upon  your  confidence  or  your  loyalty ;  and,  in  my 
honest  judgment,  each  hour  that  Georgia  remains  thereafter  a 
member  of  the  Union  will  be  an  hour  of  degradation,  to  be 
followed  by  certain  and  speedy  ruin.  I  entertain  no  doubt  of 
either  your  right  or  duty  to  secede  from  the  Union.  Arouse, 
then,  all  your  manhood  for  the  great  work  before  you,  and  be 
prepared  on  that  day  to  announce  and  maintain  your  independ 
ence  out  of  the  Union,  for  you  will  never  again  have  equality 
and  justice  in  it.  Identified  with  you  in  heart,  feeling,  and  in 
terest,  I  return  to  share  in  whatever  destiny  the  future  has  in 
store  for  our  State  and  ourselves. 

Two  days  after  writing  the  above  letter,  Secretary  Cobb 
put  his  resignation  in  President  Buchanan's  hands. 

Washington  City,  Dec.  8,  1860 

MY  DEAR  SIR:  A  sense  of  duty  to  the  State  of  Georgia 
requires  me  to  take  a  step  which  makes  it  proper  that  I  should 
no  longer  continue  to  be  a  member  of  your  Cabinet. 

In  the  troubles  of  the  country  consequent  upon  the  late 
Presidential  Election,  the  honor  and  safety  of  my  State  are  in 
volved.  Her  people  so  regard  it,  and  in  their  opinion  I  fully 
concur.  They  are  engaged  in  a  struggle  where  the  issue  is  life 
or  death.  My  friends  ask  for  my  views  and  counsel.  Not  to 
respond  would  be  degrading  to  myself  and  unjust  to  them.  I 
have  accordingly  prepared,  and  must  now  issue  to  them,  an  ad 
dress  which  contains  the  calm  and  solemn  convictions  of  my 
heart  and  judgment.  .  .  . 

For  nearly  four  years  I  have  been  associated  with  you  as  one 
of  your  Cabinet  officers,  and  during  that  period  nothing  has  oc 
curred  to  mar,  even  for  a  moment,  our  personal  and  official 
relations.  In  the  policy  and  measures  of  your  Administration  I 
have  cordially  concurred,  and  shall  ever  feel  proud  of  the  hum 
ble  place  which  my  name  may  occupy  in  its  history.  If  your 
wise  counsels  and  patriotic  warnings  had  been  heeded  by  your 
countrymen,  the  fourth  of  March  next  would  have  found  our 


Secession  399 

country  happy,  prosperous,  and  united.  That  this  will  not  be 
so  is  no  fault  of  yours. 

The  evil  has  now  passed  beyond  control,  and  must  be  met 
by  each  and  all  of  us  under  our  responsibility  to  God  and  our 
country.  If,  as  I  believe,  history  will  have  to  record  yours  as 
the  last  administration  of  our  present  Union,  it  will  also  place  it 
side  by  side  with  the  purest  and  ablest  of  those  that  preceded  it. 

With  the  kindest  regards  for  yourself  and  the  members  of 
your  Cabinet,  with  whom  I  have  been  so  pleasantly  associated. 

On  December  20,  1860,  the  convention  which  had 
been  assembled  in  South  Carolina,  on  the  news  of  Lin 
coln's  election,  by  a  unanimous  vote  of  its  one  hundred 
and  sixty-nine  members  adopted  the  following  ordinance : 


TO  DISSOLVE  THE  UNION  BETWEEN  THE  STATE  OF 
SOUTH  CAROLINA  AND  THE  OTHER  STATES  UNITED 
WITH  HER  UNDER  THE  COMPACT  ENTITLED  "THE 
CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA" 

We,  the  people  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  in  Convention 
assembled,  do  declare  and  ordain,  and  it  is  hereby  declared  and 
ordained 

That  the  ordinance  adopted  by  us  in  Convention,  on  the 
twenty-third  day  of  May,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  eighty-eight,  whereby  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  of  America  was  ratified,  and  also  all  Acts  and 
parts  of  Acts  of  the  General  Assembly  of  this  State,  ratifying 
amendments  of  the  said  Constitution,  are  hereby  repealed  ;  and 
that  the  Union  now  subsisting  between  South  Carolina  and  the 
other  States,  under  the  name  of  the  "  United  States  of  America  " 
is  hereby  dissolved.1 

1  Accompanying  the  ordinance,  was  issued  (December  24)  a  Declara 
tion  of  Causes,  in  which  the  state,  "  having  resumed  her  separate  and 
equal  place  among  nations,"  deemed  it  due  to  herself  and  the  other 
states  of  the  Union  to  declare  the  causes  of  separation.  After  accusing 
the  Northern  states  of  a  steady  course  of  policy  for  twenty-five  years, 
destructive  of  constitutional  government,  the  Declaration  concludes  by 


4OO  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

The  subsequent  ordinances  of  secession  were  more 
detailed  than  the  single  paragraph  of  the  South  Carolina 
convention.  The  following  ordinance  of  Alabama,  adopted 
January  n,  1861,  is  unique  in  its  specific  mention  of  the 
election  of  Lincoln  as  the  cause  of  secession,  as  well  as  in 
its  invitation  to  all  the  other  slaveholding  states,  whether 
they  had  seceded  or  not,  to  meet  in  a  convention  for 
"  securing  concerted  and  harmonious  action  "  : 

Whereas,  the  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Hannibal 
Hamlin  to  the  offices  of  President  and  Vice  President  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  by  a  sectional  party,  avowedly  hos 
tile  to  the  domestic  institutions  and  to  the  peace  and  security 
of  the  people  of  the  State  of  Alabama,  preceded  by  many  and 
dangerous  infractions  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
by  many  of  the  States  and  people  of  the  Northern  section,  is 
a  political  wrong  of  so  insulting  and  menacing  a  character  as 
to  justify  the  people  of  the  State  of  Alabama  in  the  adoption 
of  prompt  and  decided  measures  for  their  future  peace  and 
security :  Therefore 

Be  it  declared  and  ordained  by  the  people  of  the  State  of  Ala 
bama  in  convention  assembled,  That  the  State  of  Alabama  now 
withdraws,  and  is  withdrawn,  from  the  Union  known  as  "  the 
United  States  of  America,"  and  henceforth  ceases  to  be  one  of  the 
said  United  States,  and  is,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  a  sovereign 
and  independent  State. 

Sec.  2.  Be  it  further  declared  and  ordained  by  the  people  of  the 
State  of  Alabama  in  convention  assembled,  That  all  the  powers 
over  the  territory  of  said  State,  and  over  the  people  thereof, 
heretofore  delegated  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
of  America  be,  and  they  are  hereby,  withdrawn  from  said 

an  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Judge  of  the  world  for  the  rectitude  of  the 
conduct  of  the  convention,  and  the  unequivocal  announcement  of  the 
independence  of  South  Carolina,  "  with  full  power  to  levy  war,  con 
clude  peace,  contract  alliances,  establish  commerce,  and  do  all  other 
acts  and  things  which  independent  States  may  of  right  do."  Printed  in 
American  History  Leaflets,  ed.  Hart  and  Channing,  No.  12,  pp.  3-9. 


Secession  401 

Government,  and  are  hereby  resumed  and  vested  in  the  people 
of  the  State  of  Alabama. 

And  as  it  is  the  desire  and  purpose  of  the  State  of  Alabama 
to  meet  the  slaveholding  States  of  the  South  who  may  approve 
such  purpose,  in  order  to  frame  a  provisional  as  well  as  a  per 
manent  government,  upon  the  principles  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States 

Be  it  resolved  by  the  people  of  Alabama  in  Convention  assem 
bled,  That  the  people  of  the  States  of  Delaware,  Maryland, 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Florida,  Georgia, 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Texas,  Arkansas,  Tennessee,  Kentucky, 
and  Missouri,  be,  and  are  hereby,  invited  to  meet  the  people  of 
the  State  of  Alabama,  by  their  delegates,  in  convention,  on  the 
4th  day  of  February,  A.D.  1861,  at  the  city  of  Montgomery,  in 
the  State  of  Alabama,  for  the  purpose  of  consulting  with  each 
other  as  to  the  most  effectual  mode  of  securing  concerted  and 
harmonious  action  in  whatever  measures  may  be  deemed  most 
desirable  for  our  common  peace  and  security. 

And  be  it  further  resolved,  That  the  President  of  this  conven 
tion  be,  and  is  hereby,  instructed  to  transmit  forthwith  a  copy 
of  the  foregoing  preamble,  ordinance,  and  resolutions,  to  the 
Governors  of  the  several  States  named  in  said  resolutions. 

Done  by  the  people  of  the  State  of  Alabama,  in  convention 
assembled,  at  Montgomery,  on  this,  the  nth  day  of  January, 
A.D.  1861. 

THE  FALL  OF  FORT  SUMTER 

Captain  Abner  Doubleday,  from  whose  vivid  narrative  92.  The 
the  following  extract  is  taken,  was  second  in  command  to  Of "^  sum- 
Major  Robert  Anderson  in  the  little  garrison  at  Fort  Sum-  ter>  APril  I2~ 
ter.     It  was   Doubleday  who  conducted  the  transfer  of     'r333i 
Anderson's  force  from  Fort  Moultrie  on  the  mainland  to 
Fort  Sumter  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston,  on  December  16, 
1 860  ; x  it  was  he  who  fired  the  first  gun  from  the  parapet 

1  Anderson's  dispatch  to  Colonel  Cooper,  adjutant  general,  dated 
from  Fort  Sumter,  December  16,  1860,  8  P.M.:  "Colonel:  I  have  the 
honor  to  report  that  I  have  just  completed,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  the 


402  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

of  Sumter  in  reply  to  Beauregard's  bombardment ;  and  it 
was  he  who  after  the  surrender  led  the  garrison  out  with 
the  honors  of  war,  the  flag  flying,  and  the  band  playing 
11  Yankee  Doodle." 

The  enemy's  batteries  on  Sullivan's  Island  were  so  placed  as 
to  fire  directly  into  the  officers'  quarters  at  Fort  Sumter;  and 
as  our  rooms  would  necessarily  become  untenable,  we  vacated 
them,  and  chose  points  that  were  more  secure.  .  . .  About  4  A.M. 
on  the  i2th  [of  April]  I  was  awakened  by  some  one  groping 
about  my  room  in  the  dark  and  calling  out  my  name.  It  proved 
to  be  Anderson  who  came  to  announce  to  me  that  he  had  just 
received  a  dispatch  from  Beauregard,1  dated  3.20  A.M.,  to  the 
effect  that  he  should  fire  upon  us  in  an  hour.  .  .  . 

As  soon  as  the  outline  of  our  fort  could  be  distinguished,  the 
enemy  carried  out  their  programme.  ...  In  a  moment  the  fir 
ing  burst  forth  in  one  continuous  roar,  and  large  patches  of  both 
the  exterior  and  interior  masonry  began  to  crumble  and  fall  in 
all  directions.2  The  place  where  I  was  had  been  used  for  the 

removal  to  this  fort  of  all  my  garrison,  except  the  surgeon,  four  non 
commissioned  officers,  and  seven  men.  We  have  one  year's  supply  of 
hospital  stores  and  about  four  months'  supply  of  provisions  for  my  com 
mand.  I  left  orders  to  have  all  the  guns  at  Fort  Moultrie  spiked,  and 
the  carriages  of  the  32-pounders,  which  are  old,  destroyed.  I  have  sent 
orders  to  Captain  Foster,  who  remains  at  Fort  Moultrie,  to  destroy  all 
the  ammunition  which  he  cannot  send  over.  The  step  which  I  have 
taken  was,  in  my  opinion,  necessary  to  prevent  the  effusion  of  blood." 
—  Quoted  by  S.  W.  Crawford,  The  Genesis  of  the  Civil  War,  p.  106. 

1  Dispatch  of  Colonel  Chestnut  and  Captain  Lee  to  Major  Ander 
son,  dated  April  12,  1861,  3.30  A.M.  :  "  Sir:   By  authority  of  Brigadier- 
General    Beauregard,    commanding    the    provisional    forces    of    the 
Confederate  States,  we  have  the  honor  to  notify  you  that  he  will  open 
the  fire  of  his  batteries  on  Fort  Sumter  in  one  hour  from  this  time." 
The  Genesis  of  the  Civil  War,  p.  426. 

2  S.  W.  Crawford,  surgeon  general  of  the  garrison,  gives  the  follow 
ing  picture  of  the  opening  of  the  fire  :  "  The  sea  was  calm,  and  the  night 
still  under  the  bright  starlight,  when  at  4.30  A.M.  the  sound  of  a  mortar 
from  a  battery  at  Fort  Johnson  broke  upon  the  stillness.    It  was  the 
signal  to  the  batteries  around  to  open  fire.    The  shell,  fired  by  Capt. 
George  St.  James,  who  commanded  the  battery,  rose  high  in  air,  and 


Secession  403 

manufacture  of  cartridges,  and  there  was  still  a  good  deal  of 
powder  there,  some  packed  and  some  loose.  A  shell  soon  struck 
near  the  ventilator,  and  a  puff  of  dense  smoke  entered  the  room, 
giving  me  a  strong  impression  that  there  would  be  an  immediate 
explosion.  Fortunately,  no  sparks  had  penetrated  inside. 

Nineteen  batteries  were  now  hammering  at  us,  and  the  balls 
and  shells  from  the  ten-inch  columbiads,1  accompanied  by  shells 
from  the  thirteen-inch  mortars  which  constantly  bombarded  us, 
made  us  feel  as  if  the  war  had  commenced  in  earnest. 

When  it  was  broad  daylight,  I  went  down  to  breakfast.  I 
found  the  officers  already  assembled  at  one  of  the  long  tables 
in  the  mess-hall.  Our  party  were  calm,  and  even  somewhat 
merry.  .  .  .  Our  meal  was  not  very  sumptuous.  It  consisted 
of  pork  and  water,  but  Dr  Crawford  triumphantly  brought  forth 
a  little  farina,  which  he  had  found  in  a  corner  of  the  hospital. 

When  this  frugal  repast  was  over,  my  company  was  told  off  in 
three  details  for  firing  purposes,  to  be  relieved  afterward  by  Sey 
mour's  company.  As  I  was  the  ranking  officer,  I  took  the  first 
detachment,  and  marched  them  to  the  casemates,  which  looked 
out  upon  the  powerful  iron-clad  battery  of  Cummings  Point. 

In  aiming  the  first  gun  fired  against  the  rebellion  I  had  no 
feeling  of  self-reproach,  for  I  fully  believed  that  the  contest  was 
inevitable  and  was  not  of  our  seeking.  The  United  States  was 
called  upon  not  only  to  defend  its  sovereignty,  but  its  right  to 
exist  as  a  nation.  The  only  alternative  was  to  submit  to  a 
powerful  oligarchy  who  were  determined  to  make  freedom  for 
ever  subordinate  to  slavery.  To  me  it  was  simply  a  contest, 
politically  speaking,  as  to  whether  virtue  or  vice  should  rule.  . . . 

curving  in  its  course,  burst  almost  directly  over  the  fort.  A  silence 
followed  for  a  few  moments,  when  a  gun  opened  from  the  Ironclad 
battery  on  Cummings  Point.  Hardly  had  the  echo  of  this  opening  gun 
died  upon  the  air,  when  the  mortars  nearest  to  the  fort  opened  their  fire, 
which  was  at  once  followed  by  others  in  the  neighborhood,  and  in  suc 
cession  by  the  batteries  around,  until  the  fort  was  *  surrounded  by  a 
circle  of  fire.""  —  The  Genesis  of  the  Civil  War,  p.  427. 

1  The  columbiad  was  a  cast  iron  smooth-bore  cannon  from  which 
both  shells  and  solid  shot  were  fired.  It  was  used  extensively  in  the 
War  of  1812,  but  was  already  old-fashioned  at  the  opening  of  the 
Civil  War. 


404  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

The  firing  continued  all  day,  without  any  special  incident  of 
importance,  and  without  our  making  much  impression  on  the 
enemy's  works.  They  had  a  great  advantage  over  us,  as  their 
fire  was  concentrated  on  the  fort,  which  was  in  the  center  of  the 
circle,  while  ours  was  diffused  over  the  circumference.  Their 
missiles  were  exceedingly  destructive^jto  the  upper  exposed  por 
tion  of  the  work,  but  no  essential  injury  was  done  to'  the  lower 
casemates  which  sheltered  us. 

Some  of  these  shells,  however,  set  the  officers'  quarters  on 
fire  three  times ;  but  the  flames  were  promptly  extinguished.  .  .  . 

On  the  morning  of  the  13th,  we  took  our  breakfast  —  or, 
rather,  our  pork  and  water — at  the  usual  hour,  and  marched  the 
men  to  the  guns  when  the  meal  was  over.  From  4  to  6J  A.M. 
the  enemy's  fire  was  very  spirited.  From  7  to  8  A.M.  a  rain 
storm  came  on,  and  there  was  a  lull  in  the  cannonading.  About 
8  A.M.  the  officers'  quarters  were  ignited.  .  .  .  The  fire  was  put 
out;  but  at  10  A.M.  a  mortar  shell  passed  through  the  roof,  and 
lodged  in  the  flooring  of  the  second  story,  where  it  burst,  and 
started  the  flames  afresh.  This,  too,  was  extinguished  ;  but  the 
hot  shot  soon  followed  each  other  so  rapidly  that  it  was  impossi 
ble  for  us  to  contend  with  them  any  longer.  It  became  evident 
that  the  entire  block,  being  built  with  wooden  partitions,  floors, 
and  roofing,  must  be  consumed,  and  that  the  magazine,  containing 
300  barrels  of  powder,  would  be  endangered.  .  .  . 

While  the  officers  exerted  themselves  with  axes  to  tear  down 
and  cut  away  all  woodwork  in  the  vicinity,  the  soldiers  were 
rolling  barrels  of  powder  out  to  more  sheltered  spots,  and  were 
covering  them  with  wet  blankets.  .  .  .  We  only  succeeded  in 
getting  out  some  96  barrels  of  powder,  and  then  we  were 
obliged  to  close  the  massive  copper  door.  .  .  . 

By  1 1  A.M.  the  conflagration  was  terrible  and  disastrous.  One 
fifth  of  the  fort  was  on  fire,  and  the  wind  drove  the  smoke  in 
dense  masses  into  the  angle  where  we  all  had  taken  refuge.  It 
seemed  impossible  to  escape  suffocation.  Some  lay  down  close 
to  the  ground,  with  handkerchiefs  over  their  mouths,  and  others 
posted  themselves  near  the  embrasures,  where  the  smoke  was 
somewhat  lessened  by  the  draught  of  air.  Everyone  suffered 
severely.  I  crawled  out  on  one  of  these  openings  and  sat  on  the 


Secession  4°  5 

outer  edge ;  but  Ripley  [a  Charleston  gunner]  made  it  lively  for 
me  there  with  his  case-shot,  which  spattered  all  around.  Had 
not  a  slight  change  of  wind  taken  place,  the  result  might  have 
been  fatal  to  most  of  us.  ... 

The  scene  at  this  time  was  really  terrific.  The  roaring  and 
crackling  of  the  flames,  the  dense  masses  of  whirling  smoke,  the 
bursting  of  the  enemy's  shells,  and  our  own  which  were  explod 
ing  in  the  burning  rooms,  the  crashing  of  the  shot  and  the  sound 
of  masonry  falling  in  every  direction,  made  the  fort  a  pande 
monium.  When  at  last  nothing  was  left  of  the  building  but  the 
blackened  walls  and  smoldering  embers,  it  became  painfully 
evident  that  an  immense  amount  of  damage  had  been  done. 
There  was  a  tower  at  each  angle  of  the  fort.  One  of  these, 
containing  great  quantities  of  shells,  upon  which  we  had  relied, 
was  almost  completely  shattered  by  successive  explosions.  The 
massive  wooden  gates,  studded  with  iron  nails,  were  burned, 
and  the  wall  built  behind  them  was  now  a  mere  heap  of  debris, 
so  that  the  main  entrance  was  wide  open  for  an  assaulting  party. 
The  sally-ports  were  in  similar  condition,  and  the  numerous 
windows  on  the  gorge  side,  which  had  been  planked  up,  had 
now  become  all  open  entrances. 

About  12.48  P.M.  the  end  of  the  flagstaff  was  shot  down, 
and  the  flag  fell.  It  had  previously  been  hanging  by  one  halliard, 
the  other  having  been  cut  by  a  piece  of  shell.  The  exultation 
of  the  enemy  however  was  short-lived.  Peter  Hart  found  a 
spar  in  the  fort  which  answered  very  well  as  a  temporary  flag 
staff.  He  nailed  the  flag  to  this,  and  raised  it  triumphantly  by 
nailing  and  tying  the  pole  firmly  to  a  pile  of  gun-carriages  on 
the  parapet.  This  was  gallantly  done,  without  undue  haste, 
under  Seymour's  supervision,  though  the  enemy  concentrated 
all  their  fire  upon  the  spot  to  prevent  Hart  from  carrying  out 
his  intention.  .  .  . 

About  2  P.M.  Senator  Wigfall  [of  Texas]  in  company  with 
W.  Gourdin  Young  of  Charleston,  unexpectedly  made  his 
appearance  at  one  of  the  embrasures,  having  crossed  over  from 
Morris  Island  in  a  small  boat,  rowed  by  negroes.  He  had  seen 
the  flag  come  down,  and  supposed  that  we  had  surrendered  in 
consequence  of  the  burning  of  the  quarters.  .  .  .  Wigfall5  in 


406  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

Beauregard's  name,  offered  Anderson  his  own  terms,  which 
were,  the  evacuation  of  the  fort,  with  permission  to  salute  our 
flag,  and  to  march  out  with  the  honors  of  war,  with  our  arms 
and  private  baggage,  leaving  all  other  war  material  behind.  .  .  . 

When  Beauregard  received  notice  that  Anderson  was  willing 
to  ratify  the  terms  agreed  on,  he  sent  over  another  boat  con 
taining  Colonel  Miles  [and  others]  to  arrange  the  details  of  the 
evacuation.  .  .  .  Our  arrangements  were  few  and  simple,  but 
the  rebels  made  extensive  preparations  for  the  event,  in  order  to 
give  it  the  greatest  e'clat,  and  gain  from  it  as  much  prestige  as 
possible.  The  population  of  the  surrounding  country  poured 
into  Charleston  in  vast  multitudes,  to  witness  the  humiliation  of 
the  United  States  flag.  .  .  . 

The  next  morning,  Sunday,  the  1 4th,  we  were  up  early,  pack 
ing  our  baggage  in  readiness  to  go  on  board  the  transport.  The 
time  having  arrived,  I  made  preparations,  by  order  of  Major 
Anderson,  to  fire  a  national  salute  to  the  flag.  .  .  .  The  salute 
being  over,  the  Confederate  troops  marched  in  to  occupy  the 
fort.  .  .  .  Anderson  directed  me  to  form  the  men  on  the  parade- 
ground,  assume  command,  and  march  them  on  board  the  trans 
port.  I  told  him  I  should  prefer  to  leave  the  fort  with  the  flag 
flying,  and  the  drums  beating  Yankee  Doodle,  and  he  authorized 
me  to  do  so.  As  soon  as  our  tattered  flag  came  down,  and  the 
silken  banner  made  by  the  ladies  of  Charleston  was  run  up, 
tremendous  shouts  of  applause  were  heard  from  the  vast  multi 
tude  of  spectators ;  and  all  the  vessels  and  steamers,  with  one 
accord,  made  for  the  fort.  .  .  . 

As  we  went  aboard  the  Isabel,  with  drums  beating  the 
national  air,  all  eyes  were  fixed  on  us.  ...  It  was  an  hour  of 
triumph  for  the  originators  of  secession  in  South  Carolina,  and 
no  doubt  it  seemed  to  them  the  culmination  of  all  their  hopes ; 
but  could  they  have  seen  into  the  future  with  the  eye  of  proph 
ecy,  their  joy  might  have  been  turned  into  mourning.  .  .  . 

My  story  is  nearly  done.  We  soon  reached  the  Baltic,  and 
were  received  with  great  sympathy  and  feeling  by  the  army  and 
navy  officers  present.  .  .  .  We  arrived  in  New  York  on  the  i9th, 
and  were  received  with  unbounded  enthusiasm.  All  the  passing 
steamers  saluted  us  with  their  steam-whistles  and  bells,  and 


Secession  407 

cheer  after  cheer  went  up  from  the  ferry-boats  and  vessels  in 
the  harbor.  .  .  .  The  principal  city  papers,  the  Tribune,  Times, 
Herald,  and  Evening  Post,  gave  us  a  hearty  welcome.  For  a 
long  time  the  enthusiasm  in  New  York  remained  undiminished. 
It  was  impossible  for  us  to  venture  into  the  main  streets  without 
being  ridden  on  the  shoulders  of  men,  and  torn  to  pieces  by 
hand-shaking.  ...  It  seemed  as  if  every  one  of  note  called  to 
express  his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  the  Union,  and  his  sympathy 
with  us,  who  had  been  its  humble  representatives  amidst  thi 
perils  of  the  first  conflict  of  the  war. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  CIVIL  WAR 

THE  OPPOSING  FORCES 

93.  War  The  following  proclamations  and  laws  show  how  the 

fromAprii      government  at  Washington  met  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil 

i%tUgUSt'     War'    They  include  (a)  President  Lincoln's  call  for  75,000 

[3431         volunteer  troops  on  the  day  following  the  fall  of   Fort 

Sumter  (April  15);  (&)  the  President's  declaration  of  a 

blockade  of  the  coast  of  the  seceded  states  (April  19) ; 

(c)  the  authorization  of  a  national  loan  by  Congress  in 

extra  session   (July    1 7) ;    (d)  a  resolution  of    Congress 

declaring  the  purpose  of  the  war  (July  22) ;  and  (e)  an 

act  to  confiscate  the  property,  including  slaves,  which  was 

used  to  further  the  insurrection  (August  6). 

(a) 

Whereas  the  laws  of  the  United  States  have  been,  for  some 
time  past,  and  now  are  opposed,  and  the  execution  thereof 
obstructed,  in  the  States  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama, 
Florida,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Texas,  by  combinations  too 
powerful  to  be  suppressed  by  the  ordinary  course  of  judicial 
proceedings,  or  by  the  powers  vested  in  the  marshals  by  law  : 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United 
States,  in  virtue  of  the  power  in  me  vested  by  the  Constitution 
and  *he  laws,  have  thought  fit  to  call  forth,  and  hereby  do  call 
forth  the  militia  of  the  several  States  of  the  Union,  to  the  aggre 
gate  number  of  seventy-five  thousand,  in  order  to  suppress  said 
combinations,  and  to  cause  the  laws  to  be  duly  executed. 

408 


The  Civil  War  409 

The  details  for  this  object  will  be  immediately  communicated 
to  the  State  authorities  through  the  War  Department. 

I  appeal  to  all  loyal  citizens  to  favor,  facilitate,  and  aid  this 
effort  to  maintain  the  honor,  the  integrity,  and  the  existence  of 
our  National  Union,  and  the  perpetuity  of  popular  government; 
and  to  redress  wrongs  already  long  enough  endured. 

I  deem  it  proper  to  say  that  the  first  service  assigned  to  the 
forces  hereby  called  forth  will  probably  be  to  repossess  the  forts, 
places,  and  property  which  have  been  seized  from  the  Union  ; 
and  in  every  event  the  utmost  care  will  be  observed,  consistently 
with  the  objects  aforesaid,  to  avoid  any  devastation,  any  destruc 
tion  of,  or  interference  with  property,  or  any  disturbance  of 
peaceful  citizens  in  any  part  of  the  country. 

And  I  hereby  command  the  persons  composing  the  com 
binations  aforesaid  to  disperse,  and  retire  peaceably  to  their 
respective  abodes  within  twenty  days  from  this  date. 

Deeming  that  the  present  condition  of  public  affairs  presents 
an  extraordinary  occasion,  I  do  hereby,  in  virtue  of  the  power 
in  me  vested  by  the  Constitution,  convene  both  Houses  of  Con 
gress.  Senators  and  Representatives  are  therefore  summoned 
to  assemble  at  their  respective  chambers  at  twelve  o'clock,  noon, 
on  Thursday,  the  fourth  day  of  July  next,  then  and  there  to 
consider  and  determine  such  measures  as,  in  their  wisdom,  the 
public  safety  and  interest  may  seem  to  demand. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand,  and  caused 
the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

Done  at  the  city  of  Washington,  this  fifteenth  day  of  April, 
-.in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
-"  sixty  one,  and  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States 

the  eighty-fifth. 

Abraham  Lincoln 

By  the  President 

William  H.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State 


Whereas  an  insurrection  against  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  has  broken  out  in  the  States  of  South  Carolina, 
Georgia,  Alabama,  Florida,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Texas, 


4io  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

and  the  laws  of  the  United  States  for  the  collection  of  the 
revenue  cannot  be  effectually  executed  therein  conformably  to 
that '  provision  of  the  Constitution  which  requires  duties  to  be 
uniform  throughout  the  United  States : 

And  whereas  a  combination  of  persons,  engaged  in  such  insur 
rection,  have  threatened  to  grant  pretended  letters  of  marque  to  au 
thorize  the  bearers  thereof  to  commit  assaults  on  the  lives,  vessels, 
and  property  of  good  citizens  of  the  country  lawfully  engaged  in 
commerce  on  the  high  seas,  and  in  waters  of  the  United  States  .  .  . 

Now,  therefore,  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United 
States,  with  a  view  to  the  same  purposes  before  mentioned,  and 
to  the  protection  of  the  public  peace,  and  the  lives  and  property 
of  quiet  and  orderly  citizens  pursuing  their  lawful  occupations, 
until  Congress  shall  have  assembled  and  deliberated  on  the  said 
unlawful  proceedings,  or  until  the  same  shall  have  ceased,  have 
further  deemed  it  advisable  to  set  on  foot  a  blockade  of  the 
ports  within  the  States  aforesaid,  in  pursuance  of  the  laws  of 
the  United  States  and  of  the  laws  of  nations  in  such  case  pro- 
vided.  For  this  purpose  a  competent  force  will  be  posted  so  as 
to  prevent  entrance  and  exit  of  vessels  from  the  ports  aforesaid. 
If,  therefore,  with  a  view  to  violate  such  blockade,  a  vessel  shall 
approach,  or  shall  attempt  to  leave  either  of  the  said  ports,  she 
will  be  duly  warned  by  the  commander  of  one  of  the  blockading 
vessels,  who  will  indorse  on  her  register  the  fact  and  date  of 
such  warning,  and  if  the  same  vessel  shall  again  attempt  to 
enter  or  leave  the  blockaded  port,  she  will  be  captured  and 
sent  to  the  nearest  convenient  port,  for  such  proceedings  againsi 
her  and  her  cargo  as  prize,  as  may  be  deemed  advisable. 

And  I  hereby  proclaim  and  declare  that  if  any  person,  under 
the  pretended  authority  of  the  said  States,  or  under  any  other 
pretence,  shall  molest  a  vessel  of  the  United  States,  or  the  per 
sons  or  cargo  on  board  of  her,  such  person  will  be  held  amena 
ble  to  the  laws  of  the  United  States  for  the  prevention  and 
punishment  of  piracy.  .  .  . 

In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand,  and  caused 
the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

Done  .  .  .  this  nineteenth  day  of  April  etc.  .  .  . 

Abraham  Lincoln 


The  Civil  War  411 

to 

Be  it  enacted .  .  .  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  be, 
and  he  is  hereby,  authorized  to  borrow  on  the  credit  of  the 
United  States,  within  twelve  months  from  the  passage  of  this 
act,  a  sum  not  exceeding  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  dol 
lars,  or  so  much  thereof  as  he  may  deem  necessary  for  the  pub 
lic  service,  for  which  he  is  authorized  to  issue  coupon  bonds,  or 
registered  bonds,  or  treasury  notes,  in  such  proportion  of  each 
as  he  may  deem  advisable ;  the  bonds  to  bear  interest  not  ex 
ceeding  seven  per  centum  per  annum,  payable  semi-annually, 
irredeemable  for  twenty  years,  and  after  that  period  redeemable 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  United  States ;  and  the  treasury  notes  to 
be  of  any  denomination  fixed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
not  less  than  fifty  dollars,  and  to  be  payable  three  years  after 
date,  with  interest  at  the  rate  of  seven  and  three  tenths  per 
centum  per  annum,1  payable  semi-annually.  And  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  may  also  issue  in  exchange  for  coin,  and  as 
part  of  the  above  loan,  or  may  pay  for  salaries  or  other  dues 
from  the  United  States,  treasury  notes  of  a  less  denomination 
than  fifty  dollars,  not  bearing  interest,  but  payable  on  demand 
by  the  Assistant  Treasurers  of  the  United  States  at  Philadel 
phia,  New  York,  or  Boston  .  .  .  provided  that  no  treasury  notes 
shall  be  issued  of  a  less  denomination  than  ten  dollars,  and  that 
the  whole  amount  of  treasury  notes,  not  bearing  interest,  issued 
under  the  authority  of  this  act,  shall  not  exceed  fifty  millions 
of  dollars.  .  .  . 

And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
may,  if  he  deem  it  advisable,  negotiate  any  portion  of  said  loan, 
not  exceeding  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  in  any  foreign 
country  and  payable  at  any  designated  place  either  in  the  United 
States  or  in  Europe.  .  .  . 

And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  faith  of  the  United  States 
is  hereby  solemnly  pledged  for  the  payment  of  the  interest  and 
redemption  of  the  principal  of  the  loan  authorized  by  this  act.  . .  . 

Approved,  July  17,  1861. 

1  The  peculiar  figure  of  7.3  per  cent  was  adopted  for  the  convenient 
reason  that  it  made  the  interest  on  the  $50  note  exactly  a  cent  a  day. 


412  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 


Resolved  .  .  .  That  the  present  deplorable  Civil  War  has  been 
forced  upon  the  country  by  the  disunionists  of  the  southern 
States,  now  in  arms  against  the  constitutional  government,  and 
in  arms  around  the  capital  ;  that  in  this  national  emergency, 
Congress,  banishing  all  feelings  of  mere  passion  or  resentment, 
will  recollect  only  its  duty  to  the  whole  country  ;  that  this  war 
is  not  waged  on  their  part  in  any  spirit  of  oppression,  or  for 
any  purpose  of  conquest  or  subjugation,  or  purpose  of  over 
throwing  or  interfering  with  the  rights  or  established  institutions 
of  those  States,  but  to  defend  and  maintain  the  supremacy  of 
the  Constitution,  and  to  preserve  the  Union  with  all  the  dig 
nity,  equality,  and  rights  of  the  several  States  unimpaired  ;  and 
that  as  soon  as  these  objects  are  accomplished  the  war  ought 
to  cease. 

w 

Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  That  if,  during  the  present  or  any  future 
insurrection  against  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  after 
the  President  of  the  United  States  shall  have  declared,  by 
proclamation,  that  the  laws  of  the  United  States  are  opposed, 
and  the  execution  thereof  obstructed,  by  combinations  too 
powerful  to  be  suppressed  by  the  ordinary  course  of  judicial 
proceedings,  or  by  the  power  vested  in  the  marshals  by  law, 
any  person  or  persons,  his,  her,  or  their  agent,  attorney,  or  em 
ploye  shall  purchase  or  acquire,  sell  or  give,  any  property  of 
whatsoever  kind  or  description,  with  intent  to  use  or  employ 
the  same,  or  suffer  the  same  to  be  used  or  employed,  in  aiding, 
abetting,  or  promoting  such  insurrection  or  resistance  to  the  laws, 
or  any  person  or  persons  engaged  therein  ;  or  if  any  person  or 
persons,  being  the  owner  or  owners  of  any  such  property,  shall 
knowingly  use  or  employ,  or  consent  to  the  use  or  employment 
of  the  same  as  aforesaid,  all  such  property  is  hereby  declared  to 
be  lawful  subject  of  prize  and  capture  wherever  found  ;  and  it 
shall  be  the  duty  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  cause 
the  same  to  be  seized,  confiscated,  and  condemned.  .  .  . 

And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  the  Attorney-General  or  any 
district  attorney  of  the  United  States  in  which  said  property  may 


The  Civil  War  413 

at  the  time  be,  may  institute  the  proceedings  of  condemnation, 
and  in  such  case  they  shall  be  wholly  for  the  benefit  of  the  United 
States;  or  any  person  may  file  an  information  with  such  attorney, 
in  which  case  the  proceedings  shall  be  for  the  use  of  such  informer 
and  the  United  States  in  equal  parts. 

And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  whenever  hereafter,  during  the 
present  insurrection  against  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
any  person  claimed  to  be  held  to  labor  or  service  under  the  law 
of  any  State,  shall  be  required  or  permitted  by  the  person  to 
whom  such  labor  or  service  is  claimed  to  be  due,  or  by  the  law 
ful  agent  of  such  person,  to  take  up  arms  against  the  United 
States  ...  or  to  work  or  be  employed  in  or  upon  any  fort,  navy 
yard,  dock,  armory,  ship,  entrenchment,  or  in  any  military  or 
naval  service  whatsoever,  against  the  Government  and  lawful 
authority  of  the  United  States,  then,  and  in  every  such  case,  the 
person  to  whom  such  labor  or  service  is  claimed  to  be  due  shall 
forfeit  his  claim  to  such  labor,  any  law  of  the  State  or  of  the 
United  States  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  And  whenever 
thereafter  the  person  claiming  such  labor  or  service  shall  seek  to 
enforce  his  claim,  it  shall  be  a  full  and  sufficient  answer  to  such 
claim  that  the  person  whose  service  or  labor  is  claimed  had  been 
employed  in  hostile  service  against  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  this  act.1 

Approved,  August  6,  1861. 

1  President  Lincoln,  who  was  determined  at  the  beginning  of  the  war 
to  adhere  to  his  professed  policy  of  preserving  the  Union  rather  than 
freeing  the  slaves,  and  who  was  consequently  very  careful  not  to  alienate 
or  offend  the  loyal  slaveowners,  signed  this  bill  with  reluctance.  How 
ever,  the  actual  confiscation  of  negroes  had  begun  several  months  before. 
As  early  as  May  24,  General  B.  F.  Butler,  commanding  at  Fortress 
Monroe,  in  Virginia,  had  refused  to  deliver  up  to  their  owners  negro 
slaves  who  had  come  into  the  Union  lines.  His  pretext  was  that,  having 
been  employed  in  the  construction  of  a  confederate  battery,  the  negroes 
were  "  contraband  of  war,"  and  he  forthwith  set  them  to  work  on  the 
Union  entrenchments.  Later  in  the  year  other  commanders  in  the  field 
(Fremont,  Hunter)  took  it  upon  themselves  to  declare  the  emancipation 
of  the  slaves  in  their  districts. 


414 


The  Crisis  of  Disunion 


94.  The 

British 
view  of  the 
Trent  affair, 
November- 
December, 
1861 

[349] 


FROM  BULL  RUN  TO  GETTYSBURG 

The  relations  of  the  Federal  government  and  the  court 
°f  St.  James  were  sorely  strained  during  the  Civil  War  by 
the  °^QR  sympathies  of  the  governing  classes  and  the  in 
fluential  journals  of  England  with  the  Southern  cause,  and 
by  the  remissness  of  the  British  ministry  in  allowing  ships 
to  be  built  and  launched  in  English  yards  for  the  purpose 
of  preying  on  Northern  commerce.  President  Lincoln's 
proclamation  of  the  blockade  of  the  Southern  ports  (see 
No.  93  (b),  p.  409)  was  a  severe  blow  to  British  trade,1  and 
threatened  to  cripple  British  industry  by  shutting  off  the 
supply  of  raw  cotton  for  her  mills.2  The  queen's  procla 
mation  of  neutrality  of  May  13,  1861,  recognized  the 
secessionists  as  belligerents,  whereas  the  administration  at 
Washington  affected  to  regard  them  as  traitors — even  after 
Bull  Run  and  the  beginning  of  an  interchange  of  prisoners 

1  Lord  Lyons,  the  British  minister  at  Washington,  writing  to  his  home 
government  of  the  proposed  blockade,  said  :  "  Calling  it  an  enforcement 
of  the  Revenue  Laws  appeared  to  me  to  increase  the  gravity  of  the 
measure,  for  it  placed  the  Foreign  Powers  in  the  dilemma  of  recognizing 
the  Southern  Confederation,  or  of  submitting  to  the  interruption  of  their 
Commerce." — Lord  Newton,  Lord  Lyons,  Vol.  I,  p.  33. 

2  Punch,  the  London  comic  paper,  summed  up  the  dilemma  between 
ethics  and  profits  thus  : 

Though  with  the  North  we  sympathize, 

It  must  not  be  forgotten 
That  with  the  South  we  've  stronger  ties 

Which  are  composed  of  cotton, 
Whereof  our  imports  mount  unto 

A  sum  of  many  figures  : 
And  where  would  be  our  calico 

Without  the  toil  of  niggers  ? 

Quoted  by  Rhodes,  History  of  the  United  States  since  1850,  Vol.  Ill, 
p.  433.  Seward  wrote  to  his  wife,  May.  17,  1861  :  "Great  Britain  is  in 
great  danger  of  sympathizing  so  much  with  the  South,  for  the  sake  of 
peace  and  cotton,  as  to  drive  us  to  make  war  against  her  as  the  ally  of 
the  traitors."  —  Frederick  Bancroft,  Life  of  Seward,  Vol.  II,  p.  575. 


The  Civil  War  4*5 

of  war.1  So  the  forcible  removal  of  Messrs.  Mason  and 
Slidell  from  the  British  steamer  Trent,  applauded  en 
thusiastically  by  the  majority  of  the  President's  cabinet, 
the  members  of  Congress,  and  the  general  public  of  the 
North,  appeared  to  the  British  government  as  the  last  act 
in  a  policy  of  deliberate  infraction  of  their  neutral  rights. 
The  people  of  England  were  aflame  with  indignation.2 
Eight  thousand  troops  were  dispatched  to  Canada,  and 
war  between  the  United  States  and  England  seemed  immi 
nent  as  the  Christmas  season  of  1861  approached.  Lord 
Lyons,  the  British  minister  at  Washington,  wrote  to  his 
chief,  Lord  John  Russell,  foreign  minister  in  Lord 
Palmerston's  cabinet : 

Washington,  Nov.  22,  1861 

I  have  all  along  been  expecting  some  such  blow  as  the  cap 
ture  on  board  the  Trent.  Turn  out  how  it  may,  it  must  I  fear 
produce  an  effect  on  public  opinion  in  both  countries  which  will 
go  far  to  disconcert  all  my  peaceful  plans  and  hopes.  I  am  so 
worn  out  with  the  never-ending  labor  of  keeping  things  smooth, 
under  the  discouragement  of  the  doubt  whether  by  so  doing  I 
am  not  after  all  only  leading  these  people  to  believe  that  they 
may  go  all  lengths  with  us  with  impunity  that  I  am  sometimes 

1  Even  as  late  as  the  autumn  of  1861   Seward  maintained  that  any 
communication  between  a  foreign   government  and  the  Confederate 
government  at  Richmond  was  an  offense  to  the  United  States  (Lord 
Newton,  Lord  Lyons,  Vol.  I,  p.  53).    As  there  was  no  government  but 
the  Confederate  below  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  this  meant  that  England 
and  other  foreign  nations  were  to  have  no  tribunal  to  which  to  appeal 
to  safeguard  the  lives  and  property  of  their  citizens  living  in  eleven 
great  states  of  the  South. 

2  An  American  living  in  London  wrote  to  Mr.  Seward  two  days  after 
the  arrival  of  the  news  of  tlie  Trent  episode  (November  29) :  "  There  never 
was  within  memory  such  a  burst  of  feeling  as  has  been  created  by  the 
news  of  the  boarding  of  the  [Trent}.    The 'people  are  frantic  with  rage, 
and  were  the  country  polled,  I  fear  that  999  men  out  of  a  thousand  would 
declare  for  immediate  war.    Lord  Palmerston  cannot  resist  the  impulse 
if  he  would."  —  War  Records,  Series  II,  Vol.  II,  p.  1107. 


416  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

half  tempted  to  wish  that  the  worst  may  have  come  already. 
However,  I  do  not  allow  this  feeling  to  influence  my  conduct, 
and  I  have  done  nothing  which  can  in  the  least  interfere  with 
any  course  which  you  may  take  concerning  the  affair  of  the  Trent. 

If  the  effect  on  the  people  and  Government  of  this  country 
were  the  only  thing  to  be  considered,  it  would  be  a  case  for  an 
extreme  measure  one  way  or  the  other.  If  the  capture  be 
unjustifiable  we  should  ask  for  the  immediate  release  of  the 
prisoners,  promptly,  imperatively,  with  a  determination  to  act  at 
once,  if  the  demand  were  refused.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
capture  be  justifiable,  we  should  at  once  say  so,  and  declare  that 
we  have  no  complaint  to  make  on  the  subject.  Even  so,  we 
should  not  escape  the  evil  of  encouraging  the  Americans  in  the 
belief  that  we  shall  bear  anything  from  them.  For  they  have 
made  up  their  minds  that  they  have  insulted  us,  although  the 
fear  of  the  consequences  prevents  their  giving  vent  to  their  ex 
ultation.  .  .  .  While  maintaining  entire  reserve  on  the  question 
itself,  I  have  avoided  any  demonstration  of  ill-humor.  My  object 
has  been,  on  the  one  hand,  not  to  prevent  the  Government  being 
led  by  its  present  apprehensions  to  take  some  conciliatory  step, 
and  on  the  other  hand,  not  to  put  H.[er]  M.[ajesty's]  Govern 
ment  or  myself  in  an  awkward  position,  if  it  should  after  all 
appear  that  we  should  not  be  right  to  make  the  affair  a  serious 
ground  of  complaint. 

Congress  will  meet  on  December  2nd,  which  will  not  diminish 
the  difficulty  of  managing  matters  here.  It  is  supposed  that 
General  McClellan  will  be  obliged  to  attempt  some  forward 
movement,  in  order  that  he  and  the  Government  [cabinet] 
may  be  able  to  meet  the  fiery  legislators.  .  .  . 

On  November  2/th  news  of  the  boarding  of  the  Trent 
reached  England,  and  on  the  3Oth  the  British  cabinet 
drew  up  a  dispatch  declaring  that  the  neutral  rights  of 
Great  Britain  had  been  violated,  demanding  that  the  act 
be  disavowed  and  the  prisoners  set  free,  and  instructing 
Lord  Lyons  to  leave  Washington  should  the  government 
refuse  to  comply  with  these  demands.  When  the  dispatch 


The  Civil  War  417 

was  submitted  to  the  queen  and  her  royal  consort,  Prince 
Albert,  the  latter  (then  on  his  deathbed)  suggested  several 
modifications  and  mitigations  of  its  peremptory  tone,  such 
as  the  omission  of  the  phrase  "  wanton  insult  "  and  of  the 
imperative  mood  and  the  threat  to  terminate  diplomatic 
relations.  The  revised  draft  read,  in  its  important  parts  : 

.  .  .  Her  Majesty's  Government,  bearing  in  mind  the  friendly 
relations  which  have  long  subsisted  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States,  are  willing  to  believe  that  the  United  States's 
naval  officer  who  committed  this  aggression  was  not  acting  in 
compliance  with  any  authority  from  his  Government,  or  that  if 
he  conceived  himself  to  be  so  authorized,  he  greatly  misunder 
stood  the  instructions  which  he  had  received. 

For  the  Government  of  the  United  States  must  be  fully  aware 
that  the  British  Government  could  not  allow  such  an  affront 
to  the  national  honour  to  pass  without  full  reparation,  and  her 
Majesty's  Government  are  unwilling  to  believe  that  it  could  be 
the  deliberate  intention  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
unnecessarily  to  force  into  discussion  between  the  two  Govern 
ments  a  question  of  so  grave  a  character,  and  with  regard  to 
which  the  whole  British  nation  would  be  sure  to  entertain  such 
unanimity  of  feeling. 

Her  Majesty's  Government,  therefore,  trust  that  when  this 
matter  shall  have  been  brought  under  the  consideration  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  that  Government  will,  of  its 
own  accord,  offer  to  the  British  Government  such  redress  as 
alone  would  satisfy  the  British  nation,  namely,  the  liberation  of 
the  four  gentlemen,  and  their  delivery  to  your  Lordship,  in  order 
that  they  may  again  be  placed  under  British  protection,  and  a 
suitable  apology  for  the  aggression  which  has  been  committed. 

Should  these  terms  not  be  offered  by  Mr.  Seward,  you  will 
propose  them  to  him. 

John  Bright,  the  distinguished  liberal  statesman,  and 
member  of  parliament  from  Rochdale,  near  Manchester, 
though  himself  a  large  cotton  manufacturer,  was  the  most 


4 1 8  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

constant  and  ardent  friend  of  the  North  in  the  little  group 
of  Union  sympathizers  among  the  public  men  of  England. 
He  was  a  regular  correspondent  of  Charles  Sumner,  chair 
man  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,1  to 
whom  he  wrote  in  the  Trent  crisis  as  follows  : 

Reform  Club,  London,  Nov.  29,  1861 
DEAR  MR.  SUMNER,  — 

I  am  here  for  a  few  days,  where  some  excitement  is  caused 
by  recent  incidents  growing  out  of  your  unhappy  troubles.  .  .  . 
The  Southern  Commissioners  have  been  taken  from  an  English 
ship.  This  has  made  a  great  sensation  here,  and  the  ignorant 
and  passionate,  and  "  Rule  Britannia "  class  are  angry  and 
insolent  as  usual.2 

1  Bright's  letters  were  read  to  Lincoln  and  Seward,  and  sometimes 
to  the  whole  cabinet  in  regular  session.    After  Lincoln's  death  Bright 
wrote  in  his  diary :  "  I  have  had  no  direct  communication  from  the  late 
President,  but  my  letters  to  Mr.  Charles  Sumner,  as  well  as  those  from 
Mr.  Cobden,  were  frequently  read  by  him,  and  he  sent  me,  through  Mr. 
Sumner,  in  his  own  handwriting,  a  draft  resolution  which  he  suggested 
as  likely  to  be  useful  if  adopted  at  public  meetings  held  in  this  country 
in  favor  of  the  North.    It  referred  to  the  question  of  slavery,  and  the 
impossibility  of  our  recognizing  a  new  state  based  on  the  foundation  of 
human  bondage."  —  G.  M.  Trevelyan,  Life  of  John  Bright,  p.  303  (with 
half-tone  facsimile  of  Lincoln's  autograph  draft). 

2  An  example  of  the  "  Rule  Britannia  "  insolence  appeared  in  the 
Morning  Chronicle  the  day  before  Mr.  Bright  wrote.    "  Abraham  Lin 
coln,"  said  the  editorial,  "  whose  accession  to  power  was  generally  wel 
comed  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  has  proved  himself  a  feeble,  confused, 
and  little-minded  mediocrity;   Mr.  Seward,  the  firebrand  at  his  elbow, 
is  exerting  himself  to  provoke  a  quarrel  with  all  Europe,  in  that  spirit 
of  senseless  egotism,  which  induces  the  Americans,  with  their  dwarf 
fleet  and  shapeless  mass  of  incoherent  squads,  which  they  call  an  army, 
to  fancy  themselves  the  equals  of  France  by  land,  and  of  Great  Britain 
by  sea.  If  the  Federal  States  could  be  rid  of  these  two  mischief-makers, 
it  might  yet  redeem  itself  in  the  sight  of  the  world ;  but  while  they 
stagger  on  at  the  head  of  affairs,  their  only  chance  of  fame  consists  in 
the  probability  that  the  navies  of  England  will  blow  out  of  the  water 
their  blockading  squadrons,  and  teach  them  how  to  respect  the  flag  of 
a  mightier  supremacy  beyond  the  Atlantic."  —  Quoted  in  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society  Proceedings,  1911-1912   Vol.  XLV,  p.  147- 


The  Civil  War  419 

The  Ministers  meet  at  this  moment  on  the  case.  The  law 
officers  say  that  your  war  steamer  might  have  taken  the  despatches 
or  the  ship  itself  into  one  of  your  ports  for  adjudication ;  but 
that  to  take  the  Commissioners  was  unlawful,  inasmuch  as  it  is 
not  permitted  for  an  officer  of  a  ship  of  war  finally  to  decide 
on  the  right  of  capture.  That  duty  belongs  to  a  regularly  con 
stituted  Court.  In  fact  you  have  done  too  little  or  too  much. 
Had  you  taken  the  ship,  the  law  would  not  have  been  broken; 
but  having  taken  only  the  men  you  are  in  the  wrong.  .  .  . 

I  hope  our  Government  will  take  a  moderate  and  forbearing 
course,  and  that  yours  will  do  the  same.  I  am  sure  you  will  do 
what  you  can  to  smooth  any  irritation  which  may  exist  with  you, 
and  you  have  great  power. 

I  may  learn  something  more  this  way,  for  I  shall  probably 
see  some  Minister  later  in  the  day,  and  I  am  to  dine  with  Mr. 
Adams  [United  States  minister  to  England]  at  seven  o'clock. .  .  . 
I  hope  to  do  some  service  for  both  countries  on  Wednesday 
next.  .  .  . 

There  is  a  feeling  among  our  Ministers  that  Mr.  Seward  is 
not  so  friendly  in  his  transactions  with  them  as  they  could  wish. 
1  hope  this  is  not  so.  ... 

Rochdale,  December  c,  1861 
DEAR  MR.  SUMNER, — 

The  excitement  here  has  been  and  is  great,  and  it  is  fed,  as 
usual,  by  newspapers  whose  writers  seem  to  imagine  a  cause  of 
war  discovered  to  be  something  like  "  treasure  trove."  I  am  not 
informed  of  the  nature  of  the  dispatch  of  our  Government  beyond 
what  appears  in  our  Papers,  and  I  know  not  how  far  its  tone 
is  moderate  or  otherwise.  ...  If  I  were  Minister  or  President 
in  your  country,  I  would  write  the  most  complete  answer  the 
case  is  capable  of,  and  in  a  friendly  and  courteous  tone,  send 
it  to  this  country.  I  would  say  that  if  after  this,  your  view  of 
the  case  is  not  accepted,  you  are  ready  to  refer  the  matter  to 
any  Sovereign,  or  two  Sovereigns,  or  Governments  of  Europe, 
or  to  any  other  eligible  tribunal,  and  to  abide  by  the  decision.  .  .  . 

I  think  you  may  do  this  with  perfect  honor,  and  you  would 
make  it  impossible  for  the  people  of  England  to  support  our 
Government  in  any  hostile  steps  against  you.  In  fact,  I  think 


420  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

a  course  so  moderate  and  just  would  bring  over  to  your  side  a 
large  amount  of  opinion  here  that  has  been  poisoned  and  misled 
by  the  Times  and  other  journals  since  your  troubles  began.  .  .  . 

I  need  not  tell  you,  who  are  much  better  acquainted  with  mod 
ern  history  than  I  am,  that  Nations  drift  into  wars,  as  we  drifted 
into  the  late  war  with  Russia  [1854]  often  thro'  the  want  of  a  reso 
lute  hand  at  some  moment  early  in  the  quarrel.  So  now,  a  coura 
geous  stroke,  not  of  arms  but  of  moral  action,  may  save  you  and  us. 
I  suppose  the  act  of  Captain  Wilkes  was  not  directly  authorized 
by  your  Government ;  if  so,  the  difficulty  will  be  smaller.  .  .  . 

It  is  common  here  to  say  that  your  Government  cannot  resist 
the  mob  violence  with  which  it  is  surrounded.  I  do  not  believe 
this.  .  .  .  Your  Congress  is  just  meeting,  and  your  Foreign 
Relations  Committee  and  your  Senate  will  have  this  matter  in 
hand.  If  you  deal  with  it  so  wisely  as  to  put  our  Government 
in  the  wrong  in  the  sight  of  all  moderate  men  here,  you  will  not 
only  avoid  the  perils  now  menacing,  but  you  will  secure  an  amount 
of  friendly  sympathy  here  which  hitherto  unhappily  has  not  been 
given  you.  .  .  .  Don't  allow  temper  in  any  of  your  statesmen  to 
turn  his  judgment.  Without,  foreign  war  I  look  to  the  restora 
tion  of  your  Union.  Give  no  advantage  to  the  enemies  of  your 
Republic  here,  and  you  will  be  all  right  again  by  and  bye.  .  .  . 

Rochdale,  December  7,  1861 
DEAR  MR.  SUMNER — • 

I  write  a  few  lines  more  for  the  steamer  at  Cork  tomorrow. 
There  is  more  calmness  here  in  the  public  mind  .  .  .  but  I  fear 
the  military  and  naval  demonstrations  of  our  Government  point 
to  trouble,  and  I  am  not  sure  that  it  would  grieve  certain  parties 
here  if  any  decent  excuse  could  be  found  for  a  quarrel  with  you. 
You  know  the  instinct  of  aristocracy  and  of  powerful  military 
services,  and  an  ignorant  people  is  easily  led  astray  on  questions 
foreign  to  their  usual  modes  of  thought.  .  .  . 

At  all  hazards  you  must  not  let  this  matter  grow  to  a  war 
with  England,  even  if  you  are  right  and  we  are  wrong.  War 
will  be  fatal  to  your  idea  of  restoring  the  Union  and  we  know 
not  what  may  survive  its  evil  influences.  1  am  not  now  con 
sidering  its  effects  here  —  they  may  be  serious  enough,  but  I 


The  Civil  War  421 

am  looking  alone  to  your  great  country,  the  hope  of  freedom 
and  humanity,  and  I  implore  you  not  on  any  feeling  that  nothing 
can  be  conceded,  and  that  England  is  arrogant  and  seeking  a 
quarrel,  to  play  the  game  of  every  enemy  of  your  country. 
Nations  in  great  crises  and  difficulties  have  often  done  that 
which  in  their  prosperous  and  powerful  hour  they  would  not 
have  done,  and  they  have  done  it  without  humiliation  or  dis 
grace.  You  may  disappoint  your  enemies  by  the  moderation 
and  reasonableness  of  your  conduct,  and  every  honest  and 
good  man  in  England  will  applaud  your  wisdom.  Put  all  the 
fire-eaters  in  the  wrong,  and  Europe  will  admire  the  sagacity  of 
your  Government. 

Rochdale,  January  n,  1862 
DEAR  MR.  SUMNER, 

Your  letter  of  the  23d  ult.  reached  me  on  the  ;th  of  this 
month.  It  showed  such  evidences  of  anxiety  on  your  part  that 
it  made  me  intensely  anxious,  and  I  was  not  prepared  for  the 
tidings  of  the  following  day,  which  announced  the  settlement  of 
the  question  which  was  the  main  cause  of  immediate  danger.1 
I  need  not  tell  you  how  much  I  rejoice,  or  how  much  I  admire 
the  dignity  and  tact  with  which  the  matter  has  been  dealt  with 
in  the  despatch  of  your  Government.  The  war-mongers  here 
are  baffled  for  the  time,  and  I  cannot  but  believe  that  a  more 
healthy  opinion  is  gradually  extending  itself  on  all  matters  con 
nected  with  your  great  struggle. 

Sarah  Morgan  Dawson  was  the  daughter  of  Thomas  G.  95.  Pen 
Morgan,  a  district  judge  of  Louisiana.    She  was  a  girl  in  j^f"'®  °' 
her  late  teens  when  the  war  broke  out,  and  she  kept  a  diary  [354-357, 
of  the  eventful  days  from  March  9,  1862,  to  the  end  of  the     3621 

1  The  dispatch  of  the  British  government  (see  p.  417)  was  pre 
sented  by  Lord  Lyons  to  Seward  on  December  19.  Eight  days  later 
Seward's  reply  was  received  at  the  British  embassy.  It  was  a  long  and 
labored  document, -but  the  gist  of  it  was  in  these  few  lines  :  "  The  four 
persons  in  question  [Mason  and  Slidell,  and  their  secretaries]  are  now 
held  in  military  custody  at  Fort  Warren  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts. 
They  will  be  cheerfully  liberated.  Your  Lordship  will  please  indicate  a 
time  and  place  for  receiving  them." — Senate  Executive  Documents, 
37th  Congress,  2d  session,  Vol.  IV,  No.  8,  p.  13. 


422  Tlif  Crisis  of  Disunion 

war.  On  her  death  a  few  years  ago  at  Versailles,  France, 
her  son  Warrington  Dawson  published  the  diary  (1913). 
The  passages  here  taken  from  it  illustrate  the  proud  spirit 
of  the  Southern  women  and  the  trials  to  which  they  were 
subjected  in  the  invasion  of  their  homes. 

April  26,  1862 

There  is  no  word  in  the  English  language  that  can  express 
the  state  in  which  we  are  and  have  been  these  last  three  days. 
Day  before  yesterday  news  came  early  in  the  morning  of  three 
of  the  enemy's  boats  passing  the  Forts,1  and  then  the  excite 
ment  began.  It  increased  rapidly  on  hearing  of  the  sinking  of 
eight  of  our  gunboats  in  the  engagement,  the  capture  of  the 
Forts,  and  last  night  of  the  burning  of  the  wharves  and  cotton 
in  the  city  while  the  Yankees  were  taking  possession.  .  .  .  We 
went  this  A.M.  to  see  the  cotton  burning  —  a  sight  never  before 
witnessed,  and  probably  never  again  to  be  seen.  Wagons,  drays, 
everything  that  could  be  driven  or  rolled,  were  loaded  with  the 
bales  and  taken  a  few  squares  back  to  be  burned  on  the  common. 
Negroes  were  running  around,  cutting  them  open,  piling  them 
up,  and  setting  them  afire.  All  were  as  busy  as  though  their 
salvation  depended  on  disappointing  the  Yankees.  Later  Charles 
sent  for  us  to  come  to  the  river  and  see  him  fire  a  flat-boat 
loaded  with  the  precious  material  for  which  the  Yankees  are 
risking  their  bodies  and  souls.  .  .  .  The  flat-boat  was  piled  with 
as  many  bales  as  it  could  hold  without  sinking.  Most  of  them 
were  cut  open,  while  negroes  stove  in  the  heads  of  barrels  of 
alcohol,  whiskey,  etc.  and  dashed  bucketsful  over  the  cotton.  .  . . 
The  cotton  floated  down  the  Mississippi  one  sheet  of  living  flame, 
even  in  the  sunlight.  An  incredible  amount  of  property  has 
been  destroyed  today,  but  no  one  begrudges  it.  ... 

1  This  refers  to  Farragut's  exploit  in  running  past  the  forts  of  Jack 
son  and  St.  Philip  *below  New  Orleans,  April  23,  1862  (see  Muzzey,  An 
American  History,  p.  446).  The  capture  of  the  forts  left  New  Orleans 
and  the  river  above,  as  far  as  Port  Hudson,  open  to  Federal  attack. 
Baton  Rouge,  the  home  of  the  Morgans,  lay  in  this  region,  some  eight) 
miles  north  of  New  Orleans. 


The  Civil  War  423 

May  9 

Our  lawful  (?)  owners  have  arrived  at  last.  About  sunset  day 
before  yesterday,  the  Iroquois  anchored  here  and  a  graceful 
young  Federal  stepped  ashore  carrying  a  Yankee  flag  over  his 
shoulder,  and  asked  the  way  to  the  Mayor's  office.  I  like  the 
style !  If  we  girls  of  Baton  Rouge  had  been  at  the  landing  in 
stead  of  the  men,  that  Yankee  would  never  have  insulted  us  by 
flying  his  flag  in  our  faces !  We  would  have  opposed  his  land 
ing  except  under  a  flag  of  truce ;  but  the  men  let  him  alone, 
and  he  even  found  a  poor  Dutchman  willing  to  show  him  the 
road.  .  .  .  Last  evening  came  the  demand :  the  town  must  be 
surrendered  immediately ;  the  Federal  flag  must  be  raised ;  they 
would  grant  the  same  terms  they  granted  New  Orleans.  Jolly 
terms  those  were !  .  .  .  This  morning  they  are  landing  at  the 
Garrison.  ..."  All  devices,  signs,  flags  of  the  Confederacy 
shall  be  suppressed."  So  says  Picayune  Butler.  Good!  I  de 
vote  all  my  red,  white,  and  blue  silk  to  the  manufacture  of  Con 
federate  flags.  As  soon  as  one  is  confiscated  I  make  another, 
until  my  ribbon  is  exhausted,  when  I  will  sport  a  duster  em 
blazoned  in  high  colors :  "  Hurra  !  for  the  bonny  blue  flag  !  " 
Henceforth  I  wear  one  pinned  to  my  bosom  ;  the  man  who  says 
take  it  off  will  have  to  pull  it  off  for  himself;  the  .man  who  dares 
attempt  it  —  well !  a  pistol  in  my  pocket  fills  up  the  gap.  I  am 
capable  too.  .  .  . 

May  17 

Four  days  ago  the  Yankees  left  us,  to  attack  Vicksburg,  leav 
ing  their  flag  flying  in  the  Garrison  without  a  man  to  guard  it, 
and  with  the  understanding  that  the  town  would  be  held  re 
sponsible  for  it.  It  was  intended  for  a  trap ;  and  it  succeeded. 
For  night  before  last  it  was  torn  down  and  pulled  to  pieces.  .  . . 

Now  they  will  be  back  in  a  few  days  and  will  execute  their 
threat  of  shelling  the  town.  .' .  .  They  say  the  women  and  chil 
dren  must  be  removed,  these  guerillas.  Where,  please  ?  Charlie 
says  we  must  go  up  to  Greenwell.  And  have  the  house  pillaged? 
For  Butler  has  decreed  that  no  unoccupied  house  shall  be 
respected. 


424  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

May  27 

The  cry  is  "  Ho  !  for  Greenwell."  We  are  hourly  expecting 
two  regiments  of  Yankees  to  occupy  the  Garrison,  and  some 
1500  of  our  men  are  awaiting  them  a  little  way  off,  so  the  fight 
seems  inevitable.  ...  O,  my  dear  Home !  How  can  I  help  but 
cry  at  leaving  you  forever  ?  For  if  this  fight  occurs,  never  again 
shall  I  pass  the  threshold  of  this  house  where  we  have  been  so 
happy  and  so  sad.  .  .  . 

May  30.   Greenwell 

After  all  our  trials  and  tribulations,  here  we  are  at  last,  and 
no  limbs  lost!  Wednesday  the  28th  —  a  day  to  be  forever  re 
membered  —  I  was  packing  up  my  traveling  desk  when  I  heard 
Lilly's  voice  downstairs,  crying  as  she  ran  in  —  she  had  been 
out  shopping  —  "  Mr.  Castle  has  killed  a  Federal  officer  on  a 
ship,  and  they  are  going  to  shell"  —Bang!  went  a  cannon  at 
the  word,  and  that  was  all  our  warning. 

Mother  had  just  come  in  and  was  lying  down,  but  sprang  to 
her  feet  and  added  her  screams  to  the  general  confusion.  .  .  . 
The  firing  continued ;  they  must  have  fired  a  half  a  dozen  times 
before  we  could  coax  mother  off.  ...  I  heard  Miriam  plead, 
argue,  insist,  command  her  to  run.  ...  As  we  stood  in  the 
door,  four  or  five  shells  sailed  over  our  heads  at  the  same  time, 
seeming  to  make  a  perfect  corkscrew  of  the  air — for  it  sounded 
as  though  it  went  in  circles.  ...  I  stayed  to  lock  the  door  with 
this  new  music  in  my  ears.  We  reached  the  back  gate  that  was 
on  the  street  when  another  shell  passed  us,  and  Miriam  jumped 
behind  the  fence  for  protection.  We  had  gone  only  half  a  square 
when  Dr.  Castleton  begged  us  to  take  another  street,  as  they 
were  firing  up  that  one.  We  took  his  advice,  but  found  our  new 
street  worse  than  the  old,  for  the  shells  seemed  to  whistle  their 
strange  songs  with  redoubled  vigor.  The  height  of  my  ambition 
was  now  attained.  I  had  heard  Jimmy  laugh  about  the  singular 
sensation  produced  by  the  rifle  balls  spinning  around  one's  head  ; 
and  here  I  heard  the  same  peculiar  sound,  ran  the  same  risk, 
and  was  equal  to  the  rest  of  the  boys ;  for  was  not  I  in  the 
midst  of  flying  shells,  in  the  middle  of  a  bombardment  ?  I  think 
I  was  rather  proud  of  it.  ... 


The  Civil  War  425 

Three  miles  from  the  town  we  began  to  overtake  the  fugi 
tives.  Hundreds  of  women  and  children  were  walking  along, 
some  bareheaded  and  all  in  costumes.  Little  girls  of  twelve  or 
fourteen  were  wandering  on  alone.  I  called  to  one  I  knew,  and 
asked  her  where  her  mother  was  :  she  did  n't  know ;  she  would 
walk  on  till  she  found  out.  .  .  .  White  and  black  were  all  mixed 
together,  and  were  as  confidential  as  though  related. 

It  was  a  heart-rending  scene.  Women  searching  for  their 
babies  along  the  road  where  they  had  been  lost ;  others  sitting 
in  the  dust  crying  and  wringing  their  hands ;  for  by  this  time 
we  had  not  an  idea  but  what  Baton  Rouge  was  either  in  ashes 
or  being  plundered,  and  we  had  saved  nothing.  .  .  . 

Clinton,  Jan.  4,  1863 

One  just  from  Baton  Rouge  tells  us  that  my  presentiment 
about  our  house  is  verified :  Yankees  do  inhabit  it,  a  Yankee 
colonel  and  his  wife.  .  . .  And  a  stranger  and  a  Yankee  occupies 
our  father's  place  at  the  table  where  he  presided  for  thirty-one 
years.  And  the  old  lamp  that  lighted  up  so  many  eager,  laughing 
faces  around  the  dear  old  table  night  after  night  —  the  old  lamp 
has  passed  into  the  hands  of  strangers  who  neither  know  nor 
care  for  its  history. 

The  following  account  of  Pickett's  charge  is  from 
Lieutenant  General  James  Longstreet,  who  was  intrusted 
by  General  Lee  with  the  command  of  the  assaulting 
column  on  the  third  and  last  day  of  the  great  fight  at 
Gettysburg. 

The  plan  of  assault  was  as  follows :  Our  artillery  was  to  be 
massed  in  a  wood  from  which  Pickett  was  to  charge,  and  it  was 
to  pour  a  continuous  fire  on  the  cemetery.  Under  cover  of  this 
fire,  and  supported  by  it,  Pickett  was  to  charge.  General  E.  P. 
Alexander  .  .  .  was  given  charge  of  the  artillery.  The  arrange 
ments  were  completed  about  one  o'clock.  General  Alexander 
had  arranged  that  a  battery  of  seven  1 1 -pound  howitzers  with 
fresh  horses  and  full  caissons,  were  to  charge  with  Pickett  at 
the  head  of  his  line,  but  General  Pendleton,  from  whom  the  guns 


426  TJie  Crisis  of  Disunion 

had  been  borrowed,  recalled  them  just  before  the  charge  was 
made,  and  thus  deranged  this  wise  plan. 

Never  was  I  so  depressed  as  on  that  day.  I  felt  that  my  men 
were  to  be  sacrificed,  and  that  I  should  have  to  order  them  to 
make  a  hopeless  charge.  I  had  instructed  General  Alexander, 
being  unwilling  to  trust  myself  with  the  entire  responsibility,  to 
carefully  observe  the  effect  of  the  fire  on  the  enemy,  and  when 
it  began  to  tell  to  notify  Pickett  to  begin  the  assault.  I  was  so 
much  impressed  with  the  hopelessness  of  the  charge  that  I  wrote 
the  following  note  to  General  Alexander :  "If  the  artillery  fire 
does  not  have  the  effect  to  drive  off  the  enemy  or  greatly  de 
moralize  him,  so  as  to  make  our  efforts  pretty  certain,  I  would 
prefer  that  you  should  not  advise  General  Pickett  to  make  the 
charge.  I  shall  rely  a  great  deal  on  your  judgment  to  deter 
mine  the  matter,  and  shall  expect  you  to  let  Pickett  know  when 
the  moment  offers." 

To  my  note  the  general  replied  as  follows :  "I  will  only  be 
able  to  judge  the  effect  of  our  fire  upon  the  enemy  by  his  return 
fire,  for  his  infantry  is  but  little  exposed  to  view,  and  the  smoke 
will  obscure  the  whole  field.  If,  as  I  infer  from  your  note,  there 
is  an  alternative  to  this  attack,  it  should  be  carefully  considered 
before  opening  our  fire,  for  it  will  take  all  the  artillery  ammu 
nition  we  have  left  to  test  this  one  thoroughly,  and  if  the  result 
is  unfavorable,  we  will  have  none  left  for  another  effort,  and 
even  if  this  is  entirely  successful  it  can  only  be  so  at  a  very 
bloody  cost." 

I  still  desired  to  save  my  men,  and  felt  that  if  the  artillery  did 
not  produce  the  desired  effect  I  would  be  justified  in  holding 
Pickett  off.  I  wrote  this  note  to  Colonel  Walton  at  exactly 
1.30  P.M.  :  "  Let  the  batteries  open.  Order  great  precision  in 
firing.  If  the  batteries  at  the  peach-orchard  cannot  be  used 
against  the  point  we  intend  attacking,  let  them  open  on  the 
enemy  at  Rocky  Hill." 

The  cannonading  which  opened  along  both  lines  was  grand. 
In  a  few  moments  a  courier  brought  a  note  to  General  Pickett 
(who  was  standing  near  me)  from  Alexander,  which,  after 
reading,  he  handed  to  me.  It  was  as  follows :  "  If  you  are 
coming  at  all  you  must  come  at  once,  or  I  cannot  give  you 


The  Civil  War  427 

proper  support ;  but  the  enemy's  fire  has  not  slackened  at  all ; 
at  least  eighteen  guns  are  still  firing  from  the  cemetery  itself." 

After  I  had  read  the  note  Pickett  said  to  me,  "  General,  shall 
I  advance  ? "  My  feelings  had  so  overcome  me  that  I  would  not 
speak  for  fear  of  betraying  my  want  of  confidence  to  him.  I 
bowed  affirmation  and  turned  to  mount  my  horse.  Pickett 
immediately  said :  "I  shall  lead  my  division  forward,  sir."  I 
spurred  my  horse  to  the  wood  where  Alexander  was  stationed 
with  artillery.  When  I  reached  him  he  told  me  of  the  disap 
pearance  of  the  seven  guns  which  were  to  have  led  the  charge 
with  Pickett,  and  that  his  ammunition  was  so  low  that  he  could 
not  properly  support  the  charge.  I  at  once  ordered  him  to  stop 
Pickett  until  the  ammunition  had  been  replenished.  He  in 
formed  me  that  he  had  no  ammunition  with  which  to  replenish. 
I  then  saw  that  there  was  no  help  for  it,  and  that  Pickett  must 
advance  under  his  orders. 

He  swept  past  our  artillery  in  splendid  style  and  the  men 
marched  steadily  and  compactly  down  the  slope.  As  they  started 
up  the  ridge  over  one  hundred  cannon  from  the  breastworks  of 
the  Federals  hurled  a  rain  of  cannister,  grape,  and  shell  down 
upon  them.  They  still  pressed  on  until  half-way  up  the  slope, 
when  the  crest  of  the  hill  was  lit  with  a  solid  sheet  of  flame  as 
the  masses  of  infantry  rose  and  fired.  When  the  smoke  cleared 
away  Pickett's  division  was  gone.  Nearly  two-thirds  of  his  men 
lay  dead  on  the  field,  and  the  survivors  were  sullenly  retreating 
down  the  hill.  Mortal  man  could  not  have  stood  that  fire.  In 
half  an  hour  the  contested  field  was  cleared,  and  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg  was  over. 

John  S.  Wise,  the  son  of  Brigadier  General  Governor 
Henry  A.  Wise  of  Virginia,  was  fourteen  years  old  when 
the  war  broke  out.  By  dint  of  much  begging  he  got  his 
father's  consent  to  enter  the  Virginia  Military  Institute  at 
Lexington  ("the  West  Point  of  the  Confederacy"),  and 
in  June,  1864,  he  joined  his  father's  brigade  at  Petersburg. 
Thirty-five  years  later  he  wrote  of  his  experiences  with 
the  defenders  of  Richmond. 


428  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

Much  of  the  month  of  July  we  passed  in  the  trenches. 
Father  was  in  command  at  Petersburg,  and  Colonel  J.  T.  Goode 
commanded  the  brigade.  .  .  .  Our  left  was  about  a  hundred 
yards  south  of  a  bastion  known  as  Elliott's  salient. 

Life  in  the  trenches  was  indescribably  monotonous  and 
uncomfortable.  In  time  of  sunshine  the  reflected  heat  from  the 
new  red-clay  embankments  was  intense,  and  unrelieved  by  shade 
or  breeze;  and  in  wet  weather  one  was  ankle-deep  in  tough,  cling 
ing  mud.  The  incessant  shelling  and  picket-firing  made  extreme 
caution  necessary  in  moving  about ;  and  each  day,  almost  each 
.  hour,  added  to  the  list  of  casualties.  The  opposing  lines  were 
not  over  two  hundred  yards  apart,  and  the  distance  between  the 
rifle  pits  was  about  one  hundred  yards.  Both  sides  had  attained 
accurate  marksmanship,  which  they  practised  with  merciless 
activity  in  picking  off  men.  .  .  . 

The  men  resorted  to  many  expedients  to  secure  some  degree 
of  comfort  and  protection.  They  learned  to  burrow  like  conies. 
Into  the  sides  of  the  trenches  and  transverses  they  went  with 
bayonet  and  tin  cups  to  secure  shade  and  protection  from  rain. 
Soon,  such  was  their  proficiency  that,  at  sultry  midday  or  dur 
ing  a  rainfall,  one  might  look  up  or  down  the  trenches  without 
seeing  anybody  but  the  sentinel.  At  the  sound  of  the  drum,  the 
heads  of  the  soldiers  would  pop  up  and  out  of  the  earth,  as  if 
they  had  been  prairie-dogs  or  gophers.  Still  many  lives  were 
lost  by  the  indifference  to  danger  which  is  begotten  by  living 
constantly  in  its  presence.  .  .  . 

A  man,  because  he  had  not  been  hit,  would  soon  come  to 
regard  himself  as  invulnerable.  The  fact  that  his  comrades  had 
been  killed  or  wounded  appeared  to  make  little  impression  upon 
him.  Past  immunity  had  made  him  so  confident  that  he  would 
walk  coolly  over  the  same  exposed  ground  where  somebody 
else  had  been  shot  the  day  before.  The  "  spat,"  "  whiz,"  "  zip," 
of  hostile  bullets  would  not  even  make  him  quicken  his  pace. 
Mayhap  he  would  take  his  short  pipe  out  of  his  mouth  and  yell 
defiantly,  "  Ah-h — Yank — yer — kain't — shoot,"  and  go  on  his 
way  tempting  fate,  until  a  bullet  struck  him  and  he  was  dead 
or  maimed  for  life.  . 


The  Civil  War  429 

When  our  troops  first  manned  the  lines,  the  things  most 
dreaded  were  the  great  mortar  shells.  They  were  particularly 
terrible  at  night.  Their  parabolas  through  the  air  were  watched 
with  intense  apprehension,  and  their  explosion  seemed  to  threaten 
annihilation.  Within  a  week  they  had  ceased  to  occasion  any 
other  feeling  among  the  men  than  a  desire  to  secure  their  frag 
ments.  There  was  little  chance  of  a  shell's  falling  upon  the  men, 
for  they  could  see  it  and  get  out  of  the  way.  Unless  it  did 
actually  strike  some  one  in  its  descent,  the  earth  was  so  tun 
nelled  and  pitted  that  it  was  apt  to  fall  into  some  depression, 
where  its  fragments  would  be  stopped  and  rendered  harmless 
by  surrounding  walls  of  dirt.  Iron  was  becoming  scarce.  As 
inducement  to  collecting  scrap-iron  for  our  cannon  foundries, 
furloughs  were  offered,  a  day  for  so  many  pounds  collected. 
Thus,  gathering  fragments  of  shell  became  an  active  industry 
among  the  troops.  So  keen  was  their  quest  that  sometimes 
they  would  start  towards  the  point  where  a  mortar-shell  fell 
even  before  it  exploded. 

Such  was  life  in  the  trenches  before  Petersburg.  Looking 
back  at  it  now,  one  wonders  that  everybody  was  not  killed,  or 
did  not  die  from  exposure.  But,  at  the  time,  no  man  there  per 
sonally  expected  to  be  killed,  and  there  was  something — nobody 
can  define  what  it  was  —  which  made  the  experience  by  no 
means  so  horrible  as  it  now  seems.  .  .  . 

About  day-break,  July  30,  the  mine  was  exploded.  ...  It 
consisted  of  a  shaft  5 1  o  f t.  long,  with  lateral  galleries  under  our 
works  38  and  37  feet  long  respectively;  in  these,  320  kegs  of 
powder,  containing  25  pounds  each  —  in  all  8000  pounds  — 
were  placed,  and  preliminary  to  the  explosion,  81  heavy  guns 
and  mortars  and  over  80  light  guns  of  the  Union  army  were 
brought  to  bear  on  the  position  to  be  mined  and  attacked.  .  .  . 
The  fuse  of  the  mine  was  lighted  about  3.30  A.M.  The  ragged 
remnant  of  the  Confederate  army  still  left  before  Petersburg 
enjoyed  unusual  repose  that  night,  for  the  firing  along  the  lines 
had  almost  ceased.  A  long  delay  ensued.  After  waiting  for 
more  than  an  hour  for  the  explosion,  two  Union  soldiers,  at  the 
risk  of  their  lives,  crawled  into  the  gallery  of  the  mine  and  found 


43°  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

the  fuse  had  failed ;  they  relit  it  and  returned.  ...  the  Confed 
erate  infantrymen  and  cannoneers  at  the  doomed  salient  slept 
on,  as  the  fuse  sparkled  and  sputtered  inch  by  inch  towards  the 
four  tons  of  gunpowder  which  were  to  rend  with  the  violence 
of  an  earthquake  the  spot  on  which  they  were  resting. 

"  There  she  goes ! "  exclaimed  one  of  the  watchers.  The 
ground  trembled  for  an  instant;  an  immense  mass  of  earth, 
cannon,  timbers,  human  beings,  and  smoke  shot  skyward,  paused 
for  an  instant  in  mid-air,  illumined  by  the  flash  of  the  explosion ; 
and,  bursting  asunder,  fell  back  into  and  around  the  smoking 
pit.  The  dense  cloud  of  smoke  drifted  off,  tinged  by  the  first 
faint  rays  of  sun-rise ;  a  silence  like  that  of  death  succeeded  the 
tremendous  report.  Nearly  300  Confederates  were  buried  in 
the  debris  of  the  crater ;  their  comrades  on  either  side  adjacent 
to  the  fatal  spot  fled  from  a  sight  so  much  resembling  the  day 
of  judgment.  ...  At  least  300  yards  of  our  lines  were  deserted 
by  their  defenders,  and  left  at  the  mercy  of  the  assaulting  col 
umns.  Beyond  that  breach  not  a  Confederate  infantryman 
stood  to  dispute  their  passage  into  the  heart  of  Petersburg. 
A  prompt  advance  in  force,  a  gallant  dash,  not  into  the  crater, 
but  around  it  and  300  yards  beyond  it,  would  have  crowned  the 
great  explosion  with  a  victory  worthy  of  its  grandeur.  From 
the  eminence  where  Blandford  Church  and  cemetery  stood,  in 
the  rear  of  the  mine,  Grant's  forces  might,  within  ten  minutes 
after  the  mine  was  sprung,  have  looked  backward  upon  the 
Confederates,  stunned,  paralyzed,  and  separated ;  and,  looking 
forward,  they  might  have  seen  the  coveted  city  [Richmond] 
undefended  and  at  their  mercy. 

THE  TRIUMPH  OF  THE  NORTH 

96.  Change  The  difference  in  tone  between  the  two  following 
tunes  of  the  extracts  from  the  messages  of  Jefferson  Davis  shows 
Confederacy,  the  effect  of  the  Union  victories  of  the  summer  and 

Apri  1— Decem- 

ber,  1863        autumn  of  1863  (Gettysburg,  Vicksburg,  Chattanooga)  on 

[358]         the  confidence  of  the  South.    The  first  extract  is  from 

an  address  "to  the  People  of  the  Confederate  States,"  on 


The  Civil  War  431 

April  10,  1863,  urging  them  to  comply  with  a  resolu 
tion  of  the  Confederate  Congress  that  they  should  cease 
planting  tobacco  and  cotton  in  anticipation  of  an  early 
termination  of  the  war,  and  devote  their  land  to  food 
crops.  The  second  is  from  President  Dayis's  message  of 
December  7,  1863,  to  the  Confederate  Congress. 

(a) 

.  .  .  We  have  reached  the  close  of  the  second  year  of  the 
war,  and  may  point  with  just  pride  to  the  history  of  our  young 
Confederacy.  Alone,  unaided,  we  have  met  and  overthrown  the 
most  formidable  combination  of  naval  and  military  armaments 
that  the  lust  of  conquest  ever  gathered  together  for  the  subju 
gation  of  a  free  people.  We  began  this  struggle  without  a  single 
gun  afloat,  while  the  resources  of  our  enemy  enabled  them  to 
gather  fleets  which,  according  to  their  official  list  published  in 
August  last,  consisted  of  427  vessels,  measuring  340,036  tons, 
and  carrying  3,268  guns.  Yet  we  have  captured,  sunk,  or 
destroyed  a  number  of  these  vessels.  ...  To  oppose  invad 
ing  forces  composed  of  levies  which  have  already  exceeded 
1,300,000  men,  we  had  no  resources  but  the  unconquerable 
valor  of  a  people  determined  to  be  free,  and  we  were  so  desti 
tute  of  military  supplies  that  tens  of  thousands  of  our  citizens 
were  reluctantly  refused  admission  into  the  service  from  our  in 
ability  to  provide  them  with  arms,  while  for  many  months  some 
of  our  important  strongholds  owed  their  safety  chiefly  to  a  care 
ful  concealment  of  the  fact  that  we  were  without  a  supply  of 
powder  for  our  cannon.  Your  devotion  and  patriotism  have 
triumphed  over  all  these  obstacles  and  called  into  existence  the 
munitions  of  war,  the  clothing,  and  the  subsistence  which  have 
enabled  our  soldiers  to  illustrate  their  valor  on  numerous  battle 
fields,  and  to  inflict  crushing  defeats  on  successive  armies,  each 
of  which  an  arrogant  foe  fondly  believed  to  be  invincible. 

The  contrast  between  our  past  and  present  condition  is  well 
calculated  to  inspire  full  confidence  in  the  triumph  of  our  arms. 
At  no  previous  period  of  the  war  have  our  forces  been  so 
numerous,  so  well-organized,  so  thoroughly  disciplined,  armed, 


432  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

and  equipped  as  at  present.  The  season  of  high  water,  on 
which  our  enemies  relied  to  enable  their  fleets  of  gunboats  to 
penetrate  into  our  country  and  devastate  our  homes,  is  fast 
passing  away ;  yet  our  strongholds  on  the  Mississippi  still  bid 
defiance  to  the  foe,1  and  months  of  costly  preparations  for  their 
reduction  have  been  spent  in  vain.  Disaster  has  been  the  result 
of  their  every  effort  to  turn  or  to  storm  Vicksburg  and  Port 
Hudson.  .  .  .  Within  a  few  weeks  the  falling  waters  and  the 
increasing  heat  of  summer  will  complete  their  discomfiture  and 
compel  their  baffled  and  defeated  forces  to  the  abandonment  of 
expeditions  on  which  was  based  their  chief  hope  of  success  in 
effecting  our  subjugation.  We  must  not  forget,  however,  that 
the  war  is  not  yet  ended,  and  that  we  are  still  confronted  by 
powerful  armies  and  threatened  by  numerous  fleets ;  and  that 
the  Government  which  controls  these  fleets  and  armies  is  driven 
to  the  most  desperate  efforts  to  effect  the  unholy  purposes  in 
which  it  has  been  thus  far  defeated.  It  will  use  its  utmost 
energy  to  arrest  the  impending  doom,  so  fully  merited  by  the 
atrocities  it  has  committed,  the  savage  barbarities  which  it  has 
encouraged,  and  the  crowning  infamy  of  its  attempt  to  excite  a 
servile  population  to  the  massacre  of  our  wives,  our  daughters, 
and  our  helpless  children.  .  .  . 

-Your  country,  therefore,  appeals  to  you  to  lay  aside  all 
thought  of  gain,  and  to  devote  yourselves  to  securing  your 
liberties,  without  which  those  gains  would  be  valueless.  .  .  . 

Let  us  all  unite  in  the  performance  of  our  duty,  each  in  his 
sphere,  and  with  concerted,  persistent,  and  well-directed  effort 
there  seems  little  reason  to  doubt  that  ...  we  shall  maintain  the 
sovereignty  and  independence  of  these  Confederate  States,  and 
transmit  to  our  posterity  the  heritage  bequeathed  to  us  by  our 

fathers-  Jefferson  Davis 

Executive  Office,  Richmond 
April  10,  1863. 

1  President  Davis  refers  to  the  two  strongholds  of  Vicksburg  and 
Port  Hudson  on  the  Mississippi  that  were  left  to  the  Confederates  after 
Grant  and  Foote  from  the  North  and  Farragut  from  the  South  had  won 
back  all  but  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  of  the  river  for 
the  Union. 


The  Civil  War  433 

0 

Richmond  Va.  Dec.  7,  1863 

To  THE  SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OF   REPRESENTATIVES  OF  THE 
CONFEDERATE  STATES: 

The  necessity  for  legislative  action  arising  out  of  the  impor 
tant  events  that  have  marked  the  interval  since  your  adjourn 
ment,  and  my  desire  to  have  the  aid  of  your  counsel  on  other 
matters  of  grave  public  interest,  render  your  presence  at  this 
time  more  than  ordinarily  welcome.  .  .  . 

Grave  reverses  befell  our  arms  soon  after  your  departure 
from  Richmond.  Early  in  June  [July]  our  strongholds  at  Vicks- 
burg  and  Port  Hudson,  together  with  their  entire  garrisons, 
capitulated  to  the  combined  land  and  naval  forces  of  the  enemy. 
The  important  interior  position  of  Jackson  next  fell  into  their 
temporary  possession.  Our  unsuccessful  assault  upon  the  post  at 
Helena  was  followed  at  a  later  period  by  the  invasion  of  Arkan 
sas,  and  the  retreat  of  our  army  from  Little  Rock  gave  to  the 
enemy  the  control  of  the  important  valley  in  which  it  is  situated. 

The  resolute  spirit  of  the  people  soon  rose  superior  to  the 
temporary  despondency  naturally  resulting  from  these  reverses. 
The  gallant  troops,  so  ably  commanded  in  the  States  beyond  the 
Mississippi,  inflicted  repeated  defeats  on  the  invading  armies  in 
Louisiana  and  on  the  coast  of  Texas.  Detachments  of  troops 
and  active  bodies  of  partisans  kept  up  so  effective  a  war  on  the 
Mississippi  River  as  practically  to  destroy  its  value  as  an  avenue 
of  commerce.  .  .  . 

The  able  commander  [Lee]  who  conducted  the  campaign  in 
Virginia  determined  to  meet  the  threatened  advance  on  Rich 
mond,  for  which  the  enemy  had  made  long  and  costly  prepara 
tions,  by  forcing  their  armies  to  cross  the  Potomac  and  fight  in 
defence  of  their  own  capital  and  homes.  Transferring  the  battle 
field  to  their  own  soil,  he  succeeded  in  compelling  their  rapid 
retreat  from  Virginia,  and  in  the  hard-fought  battle  of  Gettys 
burg  inflicted  such  severity  of  punishment  as  disabled  them 
from  an  early  renewal  of  the  campaign  as  originally  projected.1 

1  The  disappointment  of  Lincoln  and  the  war  office  in  Washington 
over  Meade's  failure  to  follow  up  his  defeat  of  Lee  at  Gettysburg  was 


434  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

Unfortunately  the  communications  on  which  our  general  relied 
for  receiving  his  supplies  of  munitions  were  so  interrupted  by 
extraordinary  floods,  which  so  swelled  the  Potomac  as  to  render 
impassable  the  fords  by  which  his  advance  had  been  made,  and 
he  was  thus  forced  to  a  withdrawal,  which  was  conducted  with 
deliberation  after  securing  large  trains  of  captured  supplies,  and 
with  constant  and  unaccepted  tender  of  battle.  .  .  . 

The  hope  last  year  entertained  of  an  early  termination  of  the 
war  has  not  been  realized.  Could  carnage  have  satisfied  the 
appetite  of  our  enemy  for  the  destruction  of  human  life,  or  grief 
have  appeased  their  wanton  desire  to  inflict  human  suffering, 
there  has  been  bloodshed  enough  on  both  sides,  and  two  lands 
have  been  sufficiently  darkened  by  the  weeds  of  mourning  to 
induce  a  disposition  for  peace. 

If  unanimity  in  a  people  could  dispel  delusion,  it  has  been 
displayed  too  unmistakably  not  to  have  silenced  the  pretense 
that  the  Southern  States  were  merely  disturbed  by  a  factious 
insurrection,  and  it  must  have  long  since  been  admitted  that  they 
were  but  exercising  their  reserved  right  to  modify  their  own 
Government  in  such  manner  as  would  best  secure  their  own 
happiness.  But  these  considerations  have  been  powerless  to  allay 
the  unchristian  hate  of  those  who,  long  accustomed  to  draw  large 
profits  from  a  union  with  us,  cannot  control  the  rage  excited  by 
the  conviction  that  they  have  by  their  own  folly  destroyed  the 
richest  sources  of  their  prosperity.  They  refuse  even  to  listen 
to  proposals  for  the  only  peace  possible  between  us  —  a  peace 
which,  recognizing  the  impassable  gulf  which  divides  us,  may 
leave  the  two  peoples  separately  to  recover  from  injuries  inflicted 

intense.  On  reading  Meade's  remark  after  the  victory,  of  "  driving  the 
invader  from  our  soil,"  Lincoln  said  with  impatience :  "  Will  our  generals 
never  get  that  idea  out  of  their  heads  ?  The  whole  country  is  our  soil." 
—  Nicolay  and  Hay,  Abraham  Lincoln,  Vol.  VII,  pp.  278-281.  On 
July  14  Lincoln  wrote  to  Meade  (but  never  signed  or  sent  the  letter): 
"  I  do  not  believe  you  appreciate  the  magnitude  of  the  misfortune 
involved  in  Lee's  escape.  He  was  within  your  easy  grasp,  and  to  have 
closed  upon  him  would,  in  connection  with  our  other  late  successes, 
have  ended  the  war.  As  it  is  the  war  will  be  prolonged  indefinitely.  .  .  . 
Your  golden  opportunity  is  gone,  and  I  am  distressed  immeasurably 
because  of  it." 


The  Civil  War  435 

on  both  by  the  causeless  war  now  waged  against  us.  Having 
begun  the  war  in  direct  violation  of  their  Constitution,  which 
forbade  the  attempt  to  coerce  a  State,  they  have  been  hardened 
by  crime  until  they  no  longer  attempt  to  veil  their  purpose  to 
destroy  the  institutions  and  subvert  the  sovereignty  and  inde 
pendence  of  these  States.  We  now  know  that  the  only  reliable 
hope  for  peace  is  in  the  vigor  of  our  resistance,  while  the  cessa 
tion  of  their  hostility  is  only  to  be  expected  from  the  pressure 
of  their  necessities. 

The  patriotism  of  the  people  has  proved  equal  to  every 
sacrifice  demanded  by  their  country's  need.  We  have  been 
united  as  a  people  never  were  united  under  like  circumstances 
before.  God  has  blessed  us  with  success  disproportionate  to  our 
means,  and  under  his  divine  favor  our  labors  must  at  last  be 
crowned  with  the  reward  due  to  men  who  have  given  all  they 
possessed  to  the  righteous  defense  of  their  inalienable  rights, 
their  homes,  and  their  altars.  Jefferson  Davis 

On  three  occasions  a  trio  of  "  ambassadors  "  from  the  97.  A  Con- 
South   sought  to   treat  with  the   United  States   govern-  emblssy, 
ment  at  Washington.  First,  immediately  after  the  secession  ^ruary  3' 
ordinance,  in  December,  1860,  the  "  sovereign  state"  of  . 

South  Carolina  sent  three  gentlemen  (Barnwell,  Adams, 
and  Orr)  to  President  Buchanan  to  negotiate  for  the  de 
livery  of  the  forts  and  other  real  estate  held  by  the  Federal 
government  in  South  Carolina.  Second,  in  March,  1861, 
soon  after  the  formation  of  the  Confederate  government  at 
Montgomery,  President  Davis,  according  to  Article  VI 
of  the  provisional  Constitution,  appointed  a  commission 
(Roman  of  Louisiana,  Crawford  of  Georgia,  Forsythe  of 
Alabama)  "  to  negotiate  friendly  relations  and  to  settle  all 
questions  of  disagreement  between  the  Confederate  States 
and  their  late  confederates  of  the  United  States  in  relation 
to  public  property  and  the  public  debt."  Neither  of  the 
embassies  succeeded  in  obtaining  recognition  from  the 


436  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

authorities  in  Washington.  Toward  the  end  of  the  war, 
on  the  assurance  of  a  favorable  reception  from  President 
Lincoln,  a  third  commission  was  appointed  by  President 
Davis,  consisting  of  Vice  President  Stephens,  Judge  Camp 
bell,  and  Senator  Hunter,  to  discuss  the  possibilities  of 
peace.  Stephens  tells  the  story  of  their  embassy  as  follows : 

The  interview  took  place  in  the  Saloon  of  the  steamer  on 
board  of  which  were  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Seward,  and  which 
lay  at  anchor  near  Fortress  Monroe.  The  Commissioners  were 
conducted  into  the  Saloon  first.  Soon  after,  Mr.  Lincoln  and 
Mr.  Seward  entered.  After  usual  salutations  on  the  part  of 
those  who  were  previously  acquainted,  and  introductions  of  the 
others  who  had  never  met  before,  conversation  was  immediately 
opened  by  the  revival  of  reminiscences  and  associations  of 
former  days. 

This  was  commenced  by  myself  addressing  Mr.  Lincoln,  and 
alluding  to  some  of  the  incidents  of  our  Congressional  acquaint 
ance —  especially  the  part  we  had  acted  together  in  effecting 
the  election  of  General  Taylor  in  1848.  To  my  remarks  he 
responded  in  a  cheerful  and  cordial  manner,  as  if  the  remem 
brance  of  those  times,  and  our  connection  with  the  incidents 
referred  to,  had  awakened  in  him  an  agreeable  train  of  reflec 
tions.  .  .  .  With  this  introduction  I  said  in  substance :  "  Well, 
Mr.  President,  is  there  no  way  of  putting  an  end  to  the  present 
trouble,  and  bringing  about  a  restoration  of  the  general  good 
feeling  and  harmony  then  existing  between  the  different  States 
and  Sections  of  the  country  ?  .  .  ." 

Mr.  Lincoln  in  reply  said  in  substance  that  there  was  but 
one  way  that  he  knew  of,  and  that  was,  for  those  who  were 
resisting  the  laws  of  the  Union  to  cease  that  resistance.  All 
the  trouble  came  from  an  armed  resistance  against  the  National 
Authority. 

"  But,"  said  I,  "  is  there  no  other  question  that  might  divert  the 
attention  of  both  Parties  for  a  time  from  the  questions  involved 
in  their  present  strife,  until  the  passions  on  both  sides  might 
cool.  ...  I  allude,  of  course  to  Mexico,  and  what  is  called  the 


The  Civil  War  437 

Monroe  Doctrine  —  the  principles  of  which  are  directly  involved 
in  the  contest  now  waging  there."  * 

Mr.  Lincoln  replied  with  considerable  earnestness,  that  he  could 
entertain  no  proposition  for  ceasing  active  military  operations, 
which  was  not  based  upon  a  pledge  first  given,  for  the  ultimate 
restoration  of  the  Union.  .  .  .  These  pointed  and  emphatic  re 
sponses  seemed  to  put  an  end  to  the  Conference  on  the  subject 
contemplated  in  our  Mission,  as  we  had  no  authority  to  give  any 
such  pledge,  even  if  we  had  been  inclined  to  do  so,  nor  was  it 
expected  that  any  such  would  really  be  required  to  be  given.2 .  .  . 

Judge  Campbell  then  inquired  in  what  way  the  settlement 
for  a  restoration  of  the  Union  was  to  be  made.  Supposing  the 
Confederate  States  should  consent  to  the  general  terms  as  stated 
by  Mr.  Lincoln,  how  would  the  re-establishment  of  the  National 
Authority  take  place  ?  .  .  . 

Mr.  Lincoln  replied :  "  By  disbanding  their  armies  and  per 
mitting  the  National  Authorities  to  resume  their  functions." 

Mr.  Seward  interposed  and  said,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  could  not 
express  himself  more  clearly  or  forcibly  in  reference  to  this 
question,  than  he  had  done  in  his  message  to  Congress  in 
December  before,  and  referred  specially  to  ...  these  words : 
"  In  stating  a  single  condition  of  peace,  I  mean  simply  to  say 
that  war  will  cease  on  the  part  of  the  government  whenever  it 
shall  have  ceased  on  the  part  of  those  who  began  it."  3  .  .  . 

1  On  Emperor  Napoleon  Ill's  attempt  to  establish  a  French  empire 
in  Mexico  during  our  Civil  War  see  Muzzey,  An  American  History, 
P-  395-    Francis  P.  Blair,  Senior,  had  visited  his  personal  friend,  Presi 
dent  Davis,  in  Richmond,  shortly  before  the  Hampton  Roads  Confer 
ence,  and  made  this  suggestion  of  utilizing  the  Mexican  situation  to 
sink  the  hostility  between  North  and  South.     President  Lincoln,  how 
ever,  had  explicitly  refused  to  authorize  such  a  suggestion. 

2  In  his  instruction  to  the  commissioners  Davis  spoke  of  "  securing 
peace  to  the  two  countries,"  while  Lincoln  insisted  on  dealing  with  "  our 
common  country."    "  Had  not  the  desire  of  the  commissioners  been  so 
strong  as  to  induce  them  to  strain  their  instructions  .  .  .  and  had  not 
Lincoln  waived  form  for  substance,  Davis'  quibble  about  words  would 
have  prevented  the  meeting." — Rhodes,  History  of  the  United  States, 
1850-1877,  Vol.  V,  p.  68. 

8  See  Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,  Vol.  VI, 
pp.  254-255. 


43  8  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

I  asked  Mr.  Lincoln  what  would  be  the  status  of  that  portion 
of  the  Slave  population  in  the  Confederate  States  which  had 
not  then  become  free  under  his  Proclamation.  .  .  .  Mr.  Lincoln 
said  that  was  a  judicial  question.  How  the  courts  would  decide 
it  he  did  not  know,  and  could  give  no  answer.  His  own  opinion 
was,  that  as  the  Proclamation  was  a  war  measure,  and  would 
have  effect  only  from  its  being  an  exercise  of  the  war  power, 
as  soon  as  the  war  ceased  it  would  be  inoperative  for  the  future. 
It  would  be  held  to  apply  only  to  such  slaves  as  had  come  under 
its  operation  while  it  was  in  active  exercise.  This  was  his  in 
dividual  opinion,  but  the  courts  might  decide  the  other  way, 
and  hold  that  it  effectually  emancipated  all  the  Slaves  in  the 
States  to  which  it  applied  at  the  time.  So  far  as  he  was  con 
cerned,  he  should  leave  it  to  the  courts  to  decide.  He  never 
would  change  or  modify  the  terms  of  the  Proclamation  in  the 
slightest  particular.  .  .  . 

Mr.  Seward  said  that  there  were  only  about  200,000  slaves 
who,  up  to  that  time,  had  come  under  the  actual  operation  of 
the  Proclamation,  and  who  were  then  in  the  enjoyment  of  their 
freedom  under  it.  ...  Mr.  Seward  also  said  that  it  might  be 
proper  to  state  to  us  that  Congress,  a  day  or  two  before,  had 
proposed  a  Constitutional  Amendment  [the  Xlllth]  for  the 
immediate  abolition  of  Slavery  throughout  the  United  States, 
which  he  produced  and  read  to  us  from  a  newspaper.  He  said 
this  was  done  as  a  war  measure.  If  the  war  were  then  to  cease 
it  would  probably  not  be  adopted  by  a  number  of  States  suffi 
cient  to  make  it  part  of  the  Constitution.  .  .  .  The  whole  num 
ber  of  States  being  thirty-six,  any  ten  of  them  could  defeat  the 
proposed  amendment. 

I  inquired  how  this  matter  could  be  adjusted,  without  some 
understanding  as  to  what  position  the  Confederate  States  would 
occupy  towards  the  others,  if  they  were  then  to  abandon  the 
war.  Would  they  be  admitted  to  representation  in  Congress  ? 

Mr.  Lincoln  very  promptly  replied,  that  his  own  individual 
opinion  was,  that  they  ought  to  be.  He  also  thought  they  would 
be ;  but  he  could  not  enter  into  any  stipulation  on  the  subject. 
His  own  opinion  was,  that  when  the  resistance  ceased,  and 
the  National  Authority  was  recognized,  the  States  would  be 


The  Civil  War  439 

immediately  restored  to  their  practical  relations  to  the  Union 
.  .  .  he  persisted  in  asserting  that  he  could  not  enter  into  any 
agreement  upon  this  subject,  or  upon  any  other  matters  of  that 
sort,  with  parties  in  arms  against  the  Government. 

Mr.  Hunter  interposed,  and  in  illustration  of  the  propriety 
of  the  Executive  entering  into  agreements  with  persons  in  arms 
against  the  acknowledged  rightful  public  authority,  referred  to 
repeated  instances  of  this  character  between  Charles  I  of  England 
and  the  people  in  arms  against  him. 

Mr.  Lincoln  in  reply  to  this  said ;  "  I  do  not  profess  to  be 
posted  in  history.  On  all  such  matters  I  will  turn  you  over  to 
Seward.  All  I  distinctly  recollect  about  the  case  of  Charles  I, 
is,  that  he  lost  his  head  in  the  end.  ..." 

After  pausing  for  some  time,  his  head  rather  bent  down,  as 
if  in  deep  reflection,  while  all  were  silent,  he  rose  up  and  used 
these  words,  almost,  if  not  quite,  identical : 

"  Stephens,  if  I  were  in  Georgia,  and  entertained  the  senti 
ments  I  do  —  though  I  suppose  I  should  not  be  permitted  to 
stay  there  long  with  them  ;  but  if  I  resided  in  Georgia,  with 
my  present  sentiments,  I  '11  tell  you  what  I  would  do,  if  I  were 
in  your  place :  I  would  go  home  and  get  the  Governor  of  the 
State  to  call  the  Legislature  together,  and  get  them  to  recall 
all  the  State  troops  from  the  war ;  elect  Senators  and  Members 
to  Congress,  and  ratify  this  Constitutional  Amendment  pro- 
spectively,  so  as  to  take  effect  —  say  in  five  years.  Such  a 
ratification  would  be  valid  in  my  opinion.  .  .  .  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  views'1  of  your  people  before  the  war,  they  must 
be  convinced  now  that  Slavery  is  doomed.  It  cannot  last  long 
in  any  event,  and  the  best  course,  it  seems  to  me,  for  your 
public  men  to  pursue,  would  be  to  adopt  such  a  policy  as  will 
avoid,  as  far  as  possible,  the  evils  of  immediate  emancipation. 
This  would  be  my  course,  if  I  were  in  your  place.  ..." 

Mr.  Lincoln  said  that  so  far  as  the  Confiscation  Acts,  and 
other  penal  acts,  were  concerned,  their  enforcement  was  left 
entirely  with  him,  and  on  that  point  he  was  perfectly  willing  to 
be  full  and  explicit,  and  on  his  assurance  perfect  reliance  might 
be  placed.  He  should  exercise  the  power  of  the  Executive  with 
the  utmost  liberality.  He  went  on  to  say  that  he  would  be 


44°  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

willing  to  be  taxed  to  remunerate  the  Southern  people  for  their 
slaves.  He  believed  the  people  of  the  North  were  as  responsible 
for  slavery  as  the  people  of  the  South,  and  if  the  war  should 
then  cease,  with  the  voluntary  abolition  of  Slavery  by  the  States, 
he  should  be  in  favor,  individually,  of  the  Government  paying 
a  fair  indemnity  for  the  loss  to  the  owners.  He  said  he  be 
lieved  this  feeling  had  an  extensive  existence  at  the  North.  He 
knew  some  who  were  in  favor  of  an  appropriation  as  high  as 
$400,000,000  for  this  purpose.  .  .  . 

Mr.  Seward  said  that  the  Northern  people  were  weary  of  the 
war.  They  desired  peace  and  a  restoration  of  harmony,  and  he 
believed  they  would  be  willing  to  pay  as  an  indemnity  for  the 
slaves,  what  would  be  required  to  continue  the  war,  but  stated 
no  amount.  .  .  . 

I  then  said :  "  I  wish,  Mr.  President,  you  would  re-consider 
the  subject  of  an  Armistice  on  the  basis  which  has  been  sug 
gested.  Great  questions,  as  well  as  vast  interests,  are  involved 
in  it.  If  upon  so  doing,  you  shall  change  your  mind,  you  can 
make  it  known  through  the  Military." 

"  Well,"  said  he,  as  he  was  taking  my  hand  for  a  farewell 
leave,  and  with  a  peculiar  manner  very  characteristic  of  him : 
"  Well,  Stephens,  I  will  re-consider  it,  but  I  do  not  think  my 
mind  will  change,  but  I  will  re-consider." 

The  two  parties  then  took  formal  and  friendly  leave  of  each 
other,  Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr.  Seward  withdrawing  first  from  the 
Saloon  together.  Col.  Babcock,  our  escort,  soon  came  in  to 
conduct  us  back  to  the  steamer  on  which  we  came. 

98.  The  sur-       In  his  report  to  Secretary  of  War  Stanton,  dated  at 

Appo^attox,  Washington,  July  22,  1865,  General  Grant  included  the 

April  9, 1865  following  correspondence  between  himself  and  General  Lee 

[370]        regarding  the  surrender  of  the  army  of  Virginia.    After 

the  fall  of  Petersburg  had  made  the  surrender  of  Richmond 

inevitable,  Lee,  rejecting  the  advice  of  some  of  his  officers 

to  take  to  the  mountains  in  western  Virginia  and  wage 

guerrilla  warfare,  was  surrounded  by  the  Union  cavalry  at 

Appomattox.     His  correspondence  with  Grant  follows : 


The  Civil  War  441 

GRANT  TO  LEE 

April  7,  i86c 
GENERAL :  - 

The  result  of  the  last  week  must  convince  you  of  the  hope 
lessness  of  further  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia  in  this  struggle.  I  feel  that  it  is  so,  and  regard  it  as  my 
duty  to  shift  from  myself  the  responsibility  of  any  further  effusion 
of  blood,  by  asking  of  you  the  surrender  of  that  portion  of  the 
Confederate  States  army  known  as  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia.  U.  S.  Grant,  Lieutenant-General 


LEE  TO  GRANT 

April  7,  1865 
GENERAL :  - 

I  have  received  your  note  of  this  date.  Though  not  enter 
taining  the  opinion  you  express  on  the  hopelessness  of  further 
resistance  on  the  part  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  I 
reciprocate  your  desire  to  avoid  useless  effusion  of  blood,  and 
therefore,  before  considering  your  proposition,  ask  the  terms 
you  will  offer  on  condition  of  its  surrender. 

R.  E.  Lee,  General 

GRANT  TO  LEE 

April  8,  1865 
GENERAL : — 

Your  note  of  last  evening,  in  reply  to  mine  of  same  date, 
asking  conditions  on  which  I  will  accept  the  surrender  of  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  is  just  received.  In  reply,  I  would 
say  that  peace  being  my  great  desire,  there  is  but  one  condition 
I  would  insist  upon  —  namely,  That  the  men  and  officers  sur 
rendered  shall  be  disqualified  for  taking  up  arms  again  against 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  until  properly  exchanged. 
I  will  meet  you,  or  will  designate  officers  to  meet  any  officers 
you  may  name  for  the  same  purpose,  at  any  point  agreeable  to 
you,  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  definitely  the  terms  upon 
which  the  surrender  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  will 
be  received.  U  s  Grant?  Lieutenant-General 


44 2  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

Lee  still  hesitated.  But  when  Sheridan  on  the  evening 
of  April  8  captured  twenty-five  Confederate  field  guns  at 
Appomattox  Station  and  seized  four  trainloads  of  supplies 
for  the  Confederate  army,  and  on  the  next  morning  Gen 
eral  Ord  reached  Appomattox  and  threw  his  army  corps 
against  the  Confederates,  who  were  desperately  attempt 
ing  to  fight  their  way  out  of  the  cordon  of  Union  cavalry, 
Lee  sent  the  white  flag,  and  asked  for  the  interview  to 
arrange  terms  of  surrender.  Grant  describes  the  scene 
in  his  "  Memoirs." 

When  I  had  left  camp  that  morning  [April  9]  I  had  not 
expected  so  soon  the  result  that  was  then  taking  place,  and 
consequently  was  in  rough  garb.  I  was  without  a  sword,  as  I 
usually  was  when  on  horseback  on  the  field,  and  wore  a  soldier's 
blouse  for  a  coat,  with  the  shoulder  straps  of  my  rank  to  indicate 
to  the  army  who  I  was.  When  I  went  into  the  house  I  found 
General  Lee."  We  greeted  each  other,  and  after  shaking  hands 
took  our  seats.  I  had  my  staff  with  me,  a  good  portion  of  whom 
were  in  the  room  during  the  whole  of  the  interview. 

What  General  Lee's  feelings  were  I  do  not  know.  As  he 
was  a  man  of  much  dignity,  with  an  impassible  face,  it  was  im 
possible  to  say  whether  he  felt  inwardly  glad  that  the  end  had 
finally  come,  or  felt  sad  over  the  result  and  was  too  manly  to 
show  it.  ...  I  felt  like  anything  rather  than  rejoicing  at  the 
downfall  of  a  foe  who  had  fought  so  long  and  valiantly,  and  had 
suffered  so  much  for  a  cause,  though  that  cause  was,  I  believe, 
one  of  the  worst  for  which  a  people  ever  fought,  and  one  for 
which  there  was  the  least  excuse.  I  do  not  question,  however, 
the  sincerity  of  the  great  mass  of  those  who  were  opposed  to  us. 

General  Lee  was  dressed  in  a  full  uniform  which  was  entirely 
new,  and  was  wearing  a  sword  of  considerable  value,  very  likely 
the  sword  which  had  been  presented  by  the  State  of  Virginia.  .  . . 

We  soon  fell  into  a  conversation  about  old  army  times  [in  the 
Mexican  War].  He  remarked  that  he  remembered  me  very  well 
in  the  old  army.  .  .  .  Our  conversation  grew  so  pleasant  that  I 


The  Civil  War  443 

almost  forgot  the  object  of  our  meeting  .  .  .  when  General  Lee 
again  interrupted  the  course  of  the  conversation  by  suggesting 
that  the  terms  I  proposed  to  give  his  army  ought  to  be  written 
out.  I  called  to  General  Parker,  Secretary  on  my  staff,  for  writ 
ing  materials,  and  commenced  writing  out  the  following  terms : 

Appomattox  C.  H.,  Va. 

Gen.  R.  E.  Lee,  Ap'l  9*  1865 

Comd'g  C.S.A. 

GEN  :  In  accordance  with  the  substance  of  my  letter  to  you  of  the 
8th  inst.,  I  propose  to  receive  the  surrender  of  the  Army  of  N.  Va. 
on  the  following  terms,  to  wit :  Rolls  of  .all  the  officers  and  men  to 
be  made  in  duplicate.  One  copy  to  be  given  to  an^  officer  designated 
by  me,  the  other  to  be  retained  by  such  officer  or  officers  as  you  may 
designate.  The  officers  to  give  their  individual  paroles  not  to  take  up 
arms  against  the  Government  of  the  United  States  until  properly 
exchanged,  and  each  company  or  regimental  commander  sign  a  like 
parole  for  the  men  of  their  commands.  The  arms,  artillery  and 
public  property  to  be  parked  and  stacked,  and  turned  over  to  the 
officer  appointed  by  me  to  receive  them.  This  will  not  embrace  the 
side-arms  of  the  officers,  nor  their  private  horses  or  baggage.  This 
done,  each  officer  and  man  will  be  allowed  to  return  to  their  homes, 
not  to  be  disturbed  by  United  States  authority  so  long  as  they  observe 
their  paroles  and  the  laws  in  force  where  they  may  reside. 

Very  respectfully 

U.  S.  Grant 
Lt.  Gen. 

...  I  then  said  to  him  that  I  thought  this  would  be  about  the 
last  battle  of  the  war  —  I  sincerely  hoped  so  ;  and  I  said  further 
I  took  it  that  most  of  the  men  in  the  ranks  were  small  farmers. 
The  whole  country  had  been  so  raided  by  the  two  armies  that 
it  was  doubtful  whether  they  would  be  able  to  put  in  a  crop  to 
carry  themselves  and  their  families  through  the  next  winter 
without  the  aid  of  the  horses  they  were  then  riding.  The  United 
States  did  not  want  them,  and  I  would  therefore  instruct  the 
officers  I  left  behind  to  receive  the  paroles  of  his  troops  to  let 
every  man  of  the  Confederate  army  who  claimed  to  own  a  horse 
or  mule  take  the  animal  to  his  home.  Lee  remarked  again  that 
this  would  have  a  happy  effect.  He  then  sat  down  and  wrote 
out  the  following  letter : 


444  '-The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

Headquarters  Army  of  Northern  Virginia 

April  9,  1865 
GENERAL : — 

I  received  your  letter  of  this  date  containing  the  terms  of  the 
surrender  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  as  proposed  by  you.  As 
they  are  substantially  the  same  as  those  expressed  in  your  letter  of 
the  8th  inst.,  they  are  accepted.  I  will  proceed  to  designate  the 
proper  officers  to  carry  the  stipulations  into  effect. 

R.  E.  Lee,  General 

While  duplicates  of  the  two  letters  were  being  made,  the 
Union  Generals  present  were  severally  presented  to  General 
Lee. 

The  much  talked  of  surrendering  of  Lee's  sword  and  my 
handing  it  back,  this  and  much  more  that  has  been  said  about 
it  is  purest  romance.  .  .  . 

General  Lee,  after  all  was  completed,  and  before  taking  his 
leave,  remarked  that  his  army  was  in  a  very  bad  condition  for 
want  of  food,  and  that  they  were  without  forage ;  that  his  men 
had  been  living  for  some  days  on  parched  corn  exclusively,  and 
that  he  would  have  to  ask  me  for  rations  and  forage.  I  told  him 
"  certainly,"  and  asked  for  how  many  men  he  wanted  rations. 
His  answer  was  "  about  twenty-five  thousand  " :  and  I  authorized 
him  to  send  his  own  commissary  and  quartermaster  to  Appo- 
mattox  Station,  two  or  three  miles  away,  where  he  could  have, 
out  of  the  trains  we  had  stopped,  all  the  provisions  wanted.  .  .  . 

When  news  of  the  surrender  first  reached  our  lines  our  men 
commenced  firing  a  salute  of  a  hundred  guns  in  honor  of  the 
victory.  I  at  once  sent  word,  however,  to  have  it  stopped.  The 
Confederates  were  now  our  prisoners,  and  we  did  not  want  to 
exult  over  their  downfall.  .  .  . 

I  suggested  to  General  Lee  that  there  was  not  a  man  in  the 
Confederacy  whose  influence  with  the  soldiery  and  the  whole 
people  was  as  great  as  his,  and  that  if  he  would  now  advise  the 
surrender  of  all  the  armies  I  had  no  doubt  his  advice  would  be 
followed  with  alacrity.1  But  Lee  said,  that  he  could  not  do  that 

1  This  testimony  to  Lee's  influence  is  corroborated  by  John  S.  Wise 
of  Virginia,  a  second  lieutenant  in  the  Confederate  army  at  the  close 
of  the  war :  "  Certain  it  is  that  the  Confederacy  contained  no  other  man 


The  Civil  War  445 

without  consulting  the  President  first.  I  knew  that  there  was 
no  use  urging  him  to  do  anything  against  his  ideas  of  what  was 
right. 

When  Lee  and  I  separated  he  went  back  to  his  lines  and  I 
returned  to  the  house  of  Mr.  McLean.  Here  the  officers  of 
both  armies  came  in  great  numbers,  and  seemed  to  enjoy  the 
meeting  as  much  as  though  they  had  been  friends  separated  for 
a  long  time  while  fighting  battles  under  the  same  flag. 

Walt  Whitman,  the  American  "  poet  of  democracy,"  99.  Poetical 

...          .      tributes  to 

offered  his  services  as  voluntary  nurse  to  the  soldiers  in  Abraham 
the  hospitals  in  Washington  during  the  Civil  War.    The  Lincoln 
assassination  of  President  Lincoln  called  forth  no  nobler 
tribute  than  the  famous  elegy  from  Whitman's  pen : 

O  Captain  !  My  Captain  !  our  fearful  trip  is  done, 
The  ship  has  weathered  every  rack,  the  prize  we  sought  is  won, 
The  port  is  near,  the  bells  I  hear,  the  people  all  exulting, 
While  follow  eyes  the  steady  keel,  the  vessel  grim  and  daring ; 

But  O  heart !  heart !  heart ! 

O  the  bleeding  drops  of  red, 

Where  on  the  deck  my  Captain  lies, 

Fallen  cold  and  dead  ! 

O  Captain !  my  Captain  !  rise  up  and  hear  the  bells  ; 

Rise  up  —  for  you  the  flag  is  flung  —  for  you  the  bugle  trills, 

For  you  bouquets  and  ribboned  wreaths  —  for  you  the  shores 

a-crowding, 
For  you  they  call,  the  swaying  mass,  their  eager  faces  turning ; 

like  Robert  E.  Lee.  When  he  said  that  the  career  of  the  Confederacy 
was  ended  ;  that  the  hope  of  an  independent  government  must  be  aban 
doned  .  .  .  and  that  the  duty  of  the  future  was  to  abandon  the  dream  of 
a  confederacy  and  render  a  new  and  cheerful  allegiance  to  a  reunited 
government  —  his  utterances  were  accepted  as  true  as  Holy  Writ.  No 
other  human  being  on  earth,  no  other  earthly  power,  could  have  pro 
duced  such  acquiescence,  or  have  compelled  such  prompt  acceptance 
of  that  final  and  irreversible  judgment." — J.  S.  Wise,  The  End  of  an 
Era,  p.  344. 


44^  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

Here  Captain  !  dear  father ! 
This  arm  beneath  your  head  ! 
It  is  some  dream  that  on  the  deck, 
You  Ve  fallen  cold  and  dead. 

My  Captain  does  not  answer,  his  lips  are  pale  and  still, 
My  father  does  not  feel  my  arm,  he  has  no  pulse  nor  will, 
The  ship  is  anchored  safe  and  sound,  its  voyage  closed  and  done, 
From  fearful  trip  the  victor  ship  comes  in  with  object  won ; 

Exult  O  Shores,  and  ring  O  bells ! 

But  I  with  mournful  tread, 

Walk  the  deck  my  Captain  lies, 

Fallen  cold  and  dead. 

The  following  verses  by  Tom  Taylor  appeared  in  the 
London  Punch  of  May  6,  1865,  accompanied  by  a  cartoon 
of  John  Tenniel's,  representing  Britannia  placing  a  wreath 
on  Columbia's  bier.  The  verses  are  especially  significant 
because  Lincoln  had  been  unmercifully  caricatured  in 
Punch. 

You  lay  a  wreath  on  murdered  Lincoln's  bier, 
You,  who  with  mocking  pencil  wont  to  trace, 
Broad  for  the  self-complacent  British  sneer, 
His  length  of  shambling  limb,  his  furrow'd  face, 

His  gaunt,  gnarl'd  hands,  his  unkempt,  bristling  hair, 

His  garb  uncouth,  his  bearing  ill  at  ease, 

His  lack  of  all  we  prize  as  debonnair, 

Of  power  or  will  to  shine,  or  art  to  please ; 

You,  whose  smart  pen  back'd  up  the  pencil's  laugh, 
Judging  each  step  as  though  the  way  were  plain ; 
Reckless,  so  could  it  point  its  paragraph, 
Of  chief's  perplexity,  or  people's  pain,  — 

Beside  this  corpse,  that  bears  for  winding-sheet 
The  Stars  and  Stripes  he  liv'd  to  rear  anew, 


The  CMl  War  447 

Between  the  mourners  at  his  head  and  feet, 
Say,  scurrile  jester,  is  there  room  for  you  ? 

Yes :  he  had  lived  to  shame  me  from  my  sneer, 
To  lame  my  pencil  and  confute  my  pen ; 
To  make  me  own  this  hind  of  princes  peer, 
This  rail-splitter  a  true-born  king  of  men. 

My  shallow  judgment  1  had  learn'd  to  rue, 

Noting  how  to  occasion's  height  he  rose; 

How  his  quaint  wit  made  home-truth  seem  more  true; 

How,  iron-like,  his  temper  grew  by  blows ; 

How  humble,  yet  how  hopeful  he  could  be ; 
How  in  good  fortune  and  in  ill  the  same ; 
Nor  bitter  in  success,  nor  boastful  he, 
Thirsty  for  gold,  nor  feverish  for  fame. 

He  went  about  his  work  —  such  work  as  few 
Ever  had  laid  on  head  and  heart  and  hand  — 
As  one  who  knows,  where  there 's  a  task  to  do, 
Man's  honest  will  must  Heaven's  good  grace  command. 

A  felon  hand,  between  the  goal  and  him, 
Rcach'd  from  behind  his  back,  a  trigger  prcss'd  — 
And  those  perplex'd  and  patient  eyes  were  dim. 
Those  gaunt,  long-laboring  limbs  were  laid  to  rest. 

The  words  of  mercy  were  upon  his  lips, 
Forgiveness  in  his  heart  and  on  his  pen. 
When  this  vile  murderer  brought  swift  eclipse 
To  thoughts  of  peace  on  earth,  good  will  to  men. 

The  Old  World  and  the  New,  from  sea  to  Sea, 

I'tter  one  voice  of  sympathy  ami  shame. 

Sore  heart,  so  stopped  when  it  at  last  beat  high  1 

Sad  life,  cut  short  just  as  its  triumph  came ! 


44  8  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

In  his  beautiful  ode  recited  at  the  meeting  at  Harvard 
College,  July  21,  1865,  in  commemoration  of  the  Harvard 
men  who  fell  in  the  war,  James  Russell  Lowell  has  these 
on  Lincoln  : 

To  front  a  lie  in  arms  and  not  to  yield, 

This  shows,  methinks,  God's  plan 

And  measure  of  a  stalwart  man, 

Limbed  like  the  old  heroic  breeds, 

Who  stands  self-poised  on  manhood's  solid  earth, 

Not  forced  to  frame  excuses  for  his  birth, 

Fed  from  within  with  all  the  strength  he  needs. 

Such  was  he,  our  Martyr-Chief, 

Whom  late  the  Nation  he  had  led, 

With  ashes  on  her  head, 

Wept  with  the  passion  of  an  angry  grief : 

Forgive  me,  if  from  present  things  I  -turn 

To  speak  what  in  my  heart  will  beat  and  burn, 

And  hang  my  wreath  on  his  world-honored  urn. 

Nature,  they  say,  doth  dote, 

And  cannot  make  a  man 

Save  on  some  worn-out  plan 

Repeating  us  by  rote  : 

For  him  her  Old-World  moulds  aside  she  threw, 
And  choosing  sweet  clay  from  the  breast 

Of  the  unexhausted  West, 
With  stuff  untainted  shaped  a  hero  new, 
Wise,  steadfast  in  the  strength  of  God,  and  true. 

His  was  no  lonely  mountain-peak  of  mind, 

Thrusting  to  thin  air  o'er  our  cloudy  bars, 

A  sea-mark  now,  now  lost  in  vapors  blind ; 

Broad  prairie  rather,  genial,  level-lined, 

Fruitful  and  friendly  for  all  human  kind, 

Yet  also  nigh  to  heaven  and  loved  of  loftiest  stars. 


The  Civil  War  449 

He  knew  to  bide  his  time, 

And  can  his  fame  abide, 
Still  patient  in  his  simple  faith  sublime, 

Till  the  wise  years  decide. 
Great  captains,  with  their  guns  and  drums, 

Disturb  our  judgment  for  the  hour, 

But  at  last  silence  comes  ; 
These  all  are  gone,  and,  standing  like  a  tower, 

Our  children  shall  behold  his  fame, 

The  kindly-earnest,  brave,  fore-seeing  man, 
Sagacious,  patient,  dreading  praise,  not  blame, 
New  birth  of  our  new  soil,  the  first  American. 

Our  final  selection  is  the  tribute  paid  by  Edwin  Mark- 
ham  in  his  lines  entitled  "  Lincoln  "  : 

When  the  Norn-Mother  saw  the  Whirlwind  Hour, 

Greatening  and  darkening  as  it  hurried  on, 

She  bent  the  strenuous  heavens  and  came  down 

To  make  a  man  to  meet  the  mortal  need. 

She  took  the  tried  clay  of  the  common  road  — 

Clay  warm  yet  with  the  genial  heat  of  Earth, 

Dashed  through  it  all  a  strain  of  prophecy ; 

Then  mixed  a  laughter  with  the  serious  stuff. 

It  was  a  stuff  to  wear  for  centuries, 

A  man  that  matched  the  mountains,  and  compelled 

The  stars  to  look  our  way  and  honor  us. 

The  color  of  the  ground  was  in  him,  the  red  earth ; 

The  tang  and  odor  of  the  primal  things  — 

The  rectitude  and  patience  of  the  rocks ; 

The  gladness  of  the  wind  that  shakes  the  corn ; 

The  courage  of  the  bird  that  dares  the  sea ; 

The  justice  of  the  rain  that  loves  all  leaves ; 

The  pity  of  the  snow  that  hides  all  scars ; 

The  loving-kindness  of  the  wayside  well ; 

The  tolerance  and  equity  of  light 

That  gives  as  freely  to  the  shrinking  weed 

As  to  the  great  oak  flowing  to  the  wind  — 


45°  The  Crisis  of  Disunion 

To  the' graves'  low  hill  as  to  the  Matterhorn 
That  shoulders  out  the  sky.    And  so  he  came 
From  prairie  cabin  up  to  Capitol, 
One  fair  Ideal  led  our  chieftain  on. 
Forevermore  he  burned  to  do  his  deed 
With  the  fine  stroke  and  gesture  of  a  king. 
He  built  the  rail-pile  as  he  built  the  State, 
Pouring  his  splendid  strength  through  every  blow, 
The  conscience  of  him  testing  every  stroke 
To  make  his  deed  the  measure  of  a  man. 

So  came  the  Captain  with  the  mighty  heart ; 
And  when  the  step  of  Earthquake  shook  the  house 
Wrenching  the  rafters  from  their  ancient  hold 
He  held  the  ridgepole  up,  and  spiked  again 
The  rafters  of  the  Home.    He  held  his  place  — 
Held  the  'long  purpose  like  a  growing  tree  — 
Held  on  through  blame  and  faltered  not  at  praise. 
And  when  he  fell  in  whirlwind,  he  went  down 
As  when  a  kingly  cedar  green  with  boughs 
Goes  down  with  a  great  shout  upon  the  hills, 
And  leaves  a  lonesome  place  against  the  sky. 


PART  VII.    THE   POLITICAL   AND    IN 
DUSTRIAL  HISTORY  OF  THE  REPUB 
LIC  SINCE  THE  CIVIL  WAR 


PART  VII.  THE  POLITICAL  AND 
INDUSTRIAL  HISTORY  OF  THE 
REPUBLIC  SINCE  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

CHAPTER  XVII 

TWENTY  YEARS  OF  REPUBLICAN  SUPREMACY 
RECONSTRUCTION 

Among  the  Johnson  papers  in  the  Library  of  Congress  at  100.  A 
Washington  is  the  following  letter  of  General  Howell  Cobb 


of  Georgia,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under  Buchanan,  President 

Johnson  on 
written  at  the  request  of  Major  General  J.  H.  Wilson  of  reconstruc- 

the  Union  army  in  Georgia,  to  be  submitted  to  President  t 
Johnson  :  j381j 

Macon,  14  June,  1865 
Brevet  Maj.  Genl.  J.  H.  Wilson 

Com'ding  &c. 

Macon,  Ga. 
GENERAL 

In  compliance  with  my  promise  I  submit  to  you  in  writing 
the  views  and  suggestions  which  I  had  the  honor  of  presenting 
in  our  interview  on  yesterday.  It  is  due  to  candor  to  say  that 
I  was  a  secessionist,  and  counseled  the  people  of  Georgia  to 
secede.1  When  the  adoption  of  that  policy  resulted  in  war,  I  felt 
it  my  duty  to  share  in  the  privations  of  the  struggle,  and  accord 
ingly  at  the  commencement  of  the  contest,  I  entered  the  army, 
and  declining  all  civil  employments,  remained  there  to  its  close. 

1  See  No.  91,  p.  394,  for  Cobb's  advice  to  the  people  of  Georgia. 

453 


454       History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

I  was  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  cause  throughout  the 
struggle.  Upon  the  surrender  of  General  Johnston,  I  regarded 
the  contest  at  an  end,  and  have  since  that  time  conformed  my 
actions  to  that  conviction.  .  .  . 

The  contest  has  ended  in  the  subjugation  of  the  South.  The 
parties  stand  toward  each  other  in  the  relative  position  of  con 
queror  and  conquered ;  and  the  question  for  statesmen  to  decide, 
is,  the  policy  and  duty  of  the  respective  parties.  With  regard  to 
the  latter  [the  conquered  South]  the  course  is  plainly  marked 
out.  ...  A  return  to  the  peaceful  and  quiet  employments  of 
life ;  obedience  to  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States  ; 
and  the  faithful  discharge  of  all  the  duties  and  obligations  im 
posed  upon  them  by  the  new  state  of  things,  constitute  their 
plain  and  simple  duty.1 

In  the  adoption  of  the  policy,  which  the  Government  will 
pursue  towards  the  people  of  the  South,  there  are  two  mat 
ters  which  present  themselves  for  primary  and  paramount 

1  That  the  men  of  the  South  were  sincerely  ready  to  fulfill  that  duty 
we  have  ample  testimony.  General  Grant,  who  was  sent  South  on  a  tour 
of  inspection  by  Johnson,  reported  in  December,  1865  :  "I  am  satisfied 
that  the  mass  of  thinking  men  of  the  South  accept  the  present  situation 
of  affairs  in  good  faith.  The  question  which  has  hitherto  divided  the 
sentiment  of  the  two  sections  —  Slavery  and  State  rights,  or  the  right 
of  a  State  to  secede  from  the  Union  —  they  regard  as  having  been 
settled  forever  by  the  highest  tribunal  [arms]  that  man  can  resort  to. 
.  .  .  My  observations  lead  me  to  the  conclusion  that  the  citizens  of  the 
Southern  States  are  anxious  to  return  to  self-government,  within  the 
Union,  as  soon  as  possible.  ...  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  there  cannot 
be  a  greater  commingling,  at  this  time,  between  the  citizens  of  the  two 
sections,  and  particularly  of  those  entrusted  with  the  law-making  power" 
(Senate  Executive  Documents,  39th  Congress,  ist  session,  No.  2,  p.  107). 
General  Lee  wrote  to  a  friend,  September  7,  1865  :  "  Like  yourself,  I 
have,  since  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  advised  all  with  whom  I  have 
conversed  on  the  subject,  who  come  within  the  terms  of  .the  president's 
proclamations  [of  amnesty,  May  29,  1865]  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance, 
and  accept  in  good  faith  the  amnesty  offered.  .  .  .  The  war  being  at  an 
end,  the  Southern  States  having  laid  down  their  arms,  and  the  questions 
at  issue  between  them  and  the  Northern  States  having  been  decided, 
I  believe  it  to  be  the  duty  of  every  one  to  unite  in  the  restoration  of 
the  country  and  the  reestablishment  of  peace  and  harmony"  (W.  L. 
Fleming,  Documentary  History  of  Reconstruction,  Vol.  I,  p.  63). 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         455 

consideration,  ist  the  present  condition  of  things  in  the  South. 
2nd  the  state  of  things  it  is  desirable  to  produce,  and  the  best 
mode  of  doing  it.  ... 

The  whole  country  [South]  has  been  more  or  less  devas 
tated.  Their  physical  condition  in  the  loss  of  property,  and  the 
deprivation  of  the  comforts  of  life  ...  is  as  bad  as  their  worst 
enemy  could  desire.  .  .  .  The  abolition  of  slavery  not  only 
deprives  them  of  a  large  property,  but  revolutionizes  the  whole 
system  of  agricultural  labor,  and  must  necessarily  retard  the 
restoration  of  former  prosperity.  So  completely  has  this  insti 
tution  been  interwoven  with  the  whole  framework  of  society, 
that  its  abolition  involves  a  revision,  and  modification  of  almost 
every  page  of  the  Statute  books  of  the  States  where  it  has 
existed.1  It  is  with  a  people,  thus  depressed  in  mind,  seriously 
injured  in  estate,  and  surrounded  by  embarrassing  questions  of 
the  greatest  magnitude,  that  the  Government  has  to  deal  .  .  . 

The  avowed  object  of  the  Government  was  to  restore  the 
Union.2  The  successful  termination  of  the  war  has  effected 
that  result,  so  far  as  further  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  South 
is  concerned.  The  people  of  the  South,  being  prepared  to  con 
form  to  that  result,  all  else  for  the  restoration  of  the  Union  is 
in  the  hands  of  the  Government. 

Looking  to  the  future  interests,  not  only  of  the  Southern 
people,  but  of  the  whole  country,  it  is  desirable  that  the  bitter 
animosities  .  .  .  should  be  softened  as  much  as  possible ;  and  a 

1  The  laws  passed  to  adjust  the  framework  of  society  in  the  South 
to  the  new  conditions  occasioned  by  the  liberation  of  4,000,000  slaves 
were  called  the  "  black  laws  "  or  the  "  black  codes  "  (see  Muzzey,  An 
American  History,  pp.  383-384).    They  were  used  by  the  radicals  of 
the  North  in  the  campaign  of  1866  against  President  Johnson's  policy 
of  granting  "  home  rule "  to  the   Southern  states.    They  never  went 
into  force,  for  the  Freedman's  Bureau  at  first  suspended  them,  and 
then  the  "  carpetbag  governments  "  established  by  the  Reconstruction 
Act  (see  No.  101,  p.  458)  repealed  them.    Since  the  fall  of  the  Recon 
struction  Governments,  however,  the  black  codes  have  been  virtually 
reenacted  in  all  the   Southern   states  —  prohibition    of  intermarriage, 
distinct  white  and  colored  schools,  "Jim  Crow"  cars,  etc.    A  number 
of  interesting  examples  of  the  black  codes  may  be  found  in  W.  L. 
Fleming's  Documentary  History  of  Reconstruction,  Vol.  I,  pp.  273-312. 

2  See  the  Resolution  of  Congress  of  July  22,  1861,  No.  93  (d),  p.  412. 


456       History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

devastated  country  restored  ...  to  comparative  prosperity.  To 
effect  these  results  requires  the  exercise  of  virtues,  which  the 
history  of  the  World  shows,  are  not  often,  if  ever  found,  in 
the  hearts  of  the  conquerors,  magnanimity  and  generosity.  The 
World  is  sadly  in  need  of  such  an  example.  Let  the  United 
States  furnish  it.  There  never  was  a  more  fitting  opportunity. 
It  will  never  be  followed  by  more  satisfactory  results.  .  .  . 

I  leave  it  for  those  who  would  counsel  a  different  policy,  to 
foreshadow  the  effects  of  a  contrary  course.  They  may  be  able 
to  see,  how  more  blood,  and  more  suffering  will  sooner  restore 
kindlier  feelings.  I  cannot.  In  the  sufferings  already  endured, 
and  the  privations  of  the  present,  there  appears  to  me  an  ample 
atonement,  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  those  who  would  punish 
the  South  for  the  past.  For  the  security  of  the  future  no  such 
policy  is  required. 

Giving  to  these  general  principles  the  form  of  practical 
recommendations,  I  would  say  that  all  prosecutions  and  penal 
ties  should  cease  against  those  who  stand  charged  alone  with 
the  offence  of  being  parties  to,  and  supporters  of  the  Southern 
cause.  ...  If  I  could  make  my  voice  heard  in  the  councils  of 
the  Government,  I  would  seek  to  restore  concord  and  good 
feeling  by  extending  it  to  those,  from  whom  I  asked  it  in  re 
turn.  .  .  .  No  man  will  doubt  that  the  man  who  is  received 
back  into  the  Union,  and  feels  that  he  has  been  subjected  to  no 
severe  penalty,  and  been  required  to  submit  to  no  humiliating 
test,  will  make  a  truer  and  better  citizen,  than  the  one  who  feels 
that  his  citizenship  has  been  obtained  by  submitting  to  harsh  and 
degrading  terms,  which  he  was  compelled  to  yield  to,  to  secure 
the  rights  he  has  acquired.  .  .  . 

By  the  abolition  of  slavery  ...  a  state  of  things  has  been  pro 
duced,  well  calculated  to  excite  the  most  serious  apprehensions 
with  the  people  of  the  South.  I  regard  the  result  as  unfortunate 
both  for  the  white  and  black.  The  institution  of  slavery,  in 
my  judgment  provided  the  best  system  of  labor  that  could  be 
devised  for  the  negro  race.  .  .  .  You  will  find  that  our  people  are 
fully  prepared  to  conform  to  the  new  state  of  things  [emanci 
pation]  ;  and  will  be  disposed  to  pursue  towards  the  negroes,  a 
course  dictated  by  humanity  and  kindness.  I  take  it  for  granted, 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy          457 

that  the  future  relations,  between  the  negroes  and  their  former 
owners,  like  all  other  questions  of  domestic  policy,  will  be  under 
the  control  and  direction  of  the  State  Governments.1 .  .  . 

I  am  fully  conscious  of  the  fact,  that  what  I  have  said, 
is  subject  to  the  criticism  of  proceeding  from  an  interested 
party.  This  is  true.  I  am  interested,  deeply  interested  in 
the  question,  not  so  much  for  myself,  for  I  have  no  future, 
but  for  my  family,  my  friends,  my  countrymen.  ...  So  is 

1  In  expecting  to  be  allowed  to  solve  their  questions  of  "  domestic 
policy  "  after  the  war  the  Southerners  were  not  asking  an  unreasonable 
favor,  according  to  the  views  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  In  his  last  cabinet 
meeting  Lincoln  remarked:  "We  can't  undertake  to  run  State  Govern 
ments  in  all  these  Southern  States.  Their  people  must  do  that,  though 
I  reckon  that  at  first  they  may  do  it  badly"  (F.  W.  Seward,  Life  of 
Seward,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  275).  It  was  neither  the  Southern  leaders  nor 
Andrew  Johnson,  under  their  sinister  influence,  that  inaugurated  the 
idea  of  home  rule  for  the  South  after  the  war —  it  was  Abraham  Lincoln. 
The  radicals  at  the  North  were  indignant  that  Johnson  should  take  into 
his  own  hands  the  problem  of  Reconstruction,  during  the  recess  of  Con 
gress,  by  issuing  an  amnesty  proclamation  and  allowing  governments  to 
set  themselves  up  in  the  Southern  states ;  and  were  exasperated  that 
these  measures  of  Johnson  were  winning  for  him  the  approbation  of 
moderate  men  in  both  sections.  "  Is  there  no  way  to  arrest  the  insane 
course  of  the  President  in  reorganization  ?  "  wrote  Thaddeus  Stevens  to 
Sumner  on  the  very  day  (June  14,  1865)  that  Cobb  wrote  his  letter  of 
advice  to  the  President.  "  If  something  is  not  done,  the  President  will 
be  crowned  king  before  Congress  meets  "  (Works  of  Charles  Sumner, 
ed.  G.  F.  Hoar,  Vol.  IX,  p.  543).  And  Benjamin  Wade  of  Ohio  wrote 
to  Sumner  (July  29) :  "The  President  is  pursuing  and  resolved  to  pursue 
a  course  in  regard  to  reconstruction  that  can  result  in  nothing  but  con 
signing  the  great  Union  or  Republican  party,  bound  hand  and  foot  to 
the  tender  mercies  of  the  rebels  we  have  so  lately  conquered  in  the 
field,  and  their  copperhead  allies  of  the  North  "  (Works  of  Charles 
Sumner,  Vol.  IX,  p.  480).  Extreme  radicals  like  Sumner,  Wade,  and 
Chase  had  made  up  their  minds  before  the  close  of  the  war  that  the 
negro  must  be  given  the  ballot  in  order  to  protect  himself.  Chase  wrote 
to  Lincoln,  from  Baltimore,  April  n,  1865:  "As  to  the  rebel  States, 
the  easiest  and  safest  way  seems  to  me  to  be  the  enrollment  of  loyal 
citizens  without  regard  to  complexion.  .  .  .  This  you  know  has  long  been 
my  opinion.  It  is  confirmed  by  observation  more  and  more.  ...  It  will 
be  hereafter  counted  equally  a  crime  and  a  folly  if  the  colored  loyalists  of 
the  rebel  States  are  left  to  the  control  of  restored  rebels  . .  ."  (War  of  the 
Rebellion,  Official  Records,  Series  I,  Vol.  XLVII,  Part  III,  pp.  427-428). 


458       History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

every  man  who  feels  an  interest  in  the  future  not  of  the  South 
only,  but  of  the  whole  country. 

101.  The  Re-      The  men  prevailed  who  "  counselled  a* different  policy  " 

construction     r  r  , 

Act,  March 2,  from  that  of  complete  amnesty  and  home  rule  for  the 
l867  South  advocated  in  General  Cobb's  letter.    General  Carl 

Schurz,  President  Johnson's  special  commissioner  to  the 
South  to  study  political  and  social  conditions  there,  reported 
(December,  1865):  "Treason  does,  under  existing  cir 
cumstances,  not  appear  odious  in  the  South.  The  people 
are  not  impressed  with  any  sense  of  its  criminality.  .  .  . 
There  is  as  yet  among  the  Southern  people  an  utter 
lack  of  national  feeling."  1  The  committee  of  fifteen  ap 
pointed  by  Congress  (December,  1865)  "to  inquire  into 
the  condition  of  the  States  which  formed  the  so-called 
Confederate  States  of  America,  and  report  whether  they 
or  any  of  them  are  entitled  to  be  represented  in  either 
House  of  Congress,"  reported  in  June,  1866,  that  it  would 
be  "folly  and  madness"  to  permit  "conquered  enemies  .  .  . 
at  their  own  pleasure  and  on  their  own  terms,  to  participate 

1  Senate  Executive  Documents,  39th  Congress,  ist  session,  Vol.  I, 
No.  2,  p.  13.  A  good  example  of  the  defiant  submission  of  the  Southern 
leaders  is  found  in  a  letter  of  the  gallant  General  Wade  Hampton  of 
South  Carolina  to  President  Johnson  (1866).  "The  South  unequivocally 
accepts  the  situation  in  which  she  is  placed.  .  .  .  She  intends  to  abide 
by  the  laws  of  the  land  honestly  .  .  .  and  to  keep  her  word  sacredly,  and 
I  assert  that  the  North  has  no  right  to  demand  more  of  her.  You  have 
no  right  to  ask  or  expect  that  she  will  at  once  profess  unbounded  love 
to  that  Union  from  which  for  four  years  she  tried  to  escape  at  the  cost 
of  her  best  blood  and  all  her  treasure.  Nor  can  you  believe  her  to  be 
so  unutterably  hypocritical,  so  base,  as  to  declare  that  the  flag  of  the 
Union  has  already  usurped  in  her  heart  the  place  which  has  so  long 
been  sacred  to  the  *  Southern  Cross.'  The  men  at  the  South  who  make 
such  professions  are  renegades  and  traitors,  and  they  will  surely  betray 
you  if  you  trust  them.  But  the  brave  men  who  fought  to  the  last  in  a 
cause  which  they  believed  and  still  believe  to  have  been  a  just  one  .  .  . 
will  prove  true  to  their  obligations." — Quoted  by  W.  L.  Fleming, 
Documentary  History  of  Reconstruction,  Vol.  I,  p.  66. 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy          459 

in  making  laws  for  their  conquerors.  .  .  .  That  before 
allowing  such  representation,  adequate  security  for  future 
peace  and  safety  should  be  required ;  that  this  can  be 
found  only  in  such  changes  in  the  organic  law  as  shall 
determine  the  civil  rights  and  privileges  of  all  citizens  in 
all  parts  of  the  republic,  .  .  .  shall  fix  a  stigma  upon  treason, 
and  protect  the  loyal  people  against  future  claims  for  the 
expenses  incurred  in  support  of  rebellion  and  for  manu 
mitted  slaves."  1  Relying  on  these  reports  and  exasperated 
by  President  Johnson's  coarse  attacks  on  them  in  public 
speeches  for  their  interference  with  his  policy  toward  the 
South,  the  leaders  of  the  thirty-ninth  Congress  took  the 
matter  of  reconstruction  wholly  into  their  own  hands  and 
undid  the  entire  work  of  the  "  Johnson  governments  "  by 
the  Reconstruction  Act  of  March  2,  1867. 

AN  ACT  TO  PROVIDE  FOR  THE  MORE  EFFICIENT 
GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  REBEL  STATES 

Whereas  no  legal  State  governments  or  adequate  protection 
for  life  or  property  now  exists  in  the  rebel  States  of  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Mississippi,  Alabama, 
Louisiana,  Florida,  Texas,  and  Arkansas ;  and  whereas  it  is 
necessary  that  peace  and  good  order  should  be  enforced  in  said 
States,  until  loyal  republican  State  governments  can  be  legally 
established:  Therefore 

Be  it  enacted. .  .  .  That  said  rebel  States  shall  be  divided  into 
military  districts  and  made  subject  to  the  military  authority  of 
the  United  States  as  hereinafter  prescribed,  and  for  that  pur 
pose  Virginia  shall  constitute  the  first  district ;  North  Carolina 
and  South  Carolina  the  second  district ;  Georgia,  Alabama,  and 
Florida  the  third  district ;  Mississippi  and  Arkansas  the  fourth 
district ;  and  Louisiana  and  Texas  the  fifth  district ; 

1  House  Reports,  39th  Congress,  ist  session,  Vol.  II,  No.  30, 
pp.  xx-xxi. 


460      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

Sec.  2.  ...  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  President  to 
assign  to  the  command  of  each  of  said  districts  an  officer  of  the 
army,  not  below  the  rank  of  brigadier-general,  and  to  detail  a  suffi 
cient  military  force  to  enable  such  officer  to  perform  his  duties  and 
enforce  his  authority  within  the  district  to  which  he  is  assigned. 

Sec.  3.  ...  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  each  officer  assigned 
as  aforesaid,  to  protect  all  persons  in  their  right  of  person  and 
property ;  to  suppress  insurrection,  disorder,  and  violence,  and 
to  punish,  or  cause  to  be  punished,  all  disturbers  of  the  public 
peace  and  criminals ;  and  to  this  end  he  may  allow  local  civil 
tribunals  to  take  jurisdiction  of  and  to  try  offenders,  or,  when  in 
his  judgment  it  may  be  necessary  for  the  trial  of  offenders,  he 
shall  have  power  to  organize  military  commissions  or  tribunals 
for  that  purpose,  and  all  interference  under  color  of  State 
authority  with  the  exercise  of  military  authority  under  this  act, 
shall  be  null  and  void. 

Sec.  4.  ...  That  all  persons  put  under  military  arrest  by 
virtue  of  this  act  shall  be  tried  without  unnecessary  delay,  and  no 
cruel  or  unusual  punishment  shall  be  inflicted,  and  no  sentence 
.  .  .  affecting  the  life  or  liberty  of  any  person  shall  be  executed 
until  it  is  approved  by  the  officer  in  command  of  the  district,  and 
...  no  sentence  of  death  under  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall 
be  carried  into  effect  without  the  approval  of  the  President. 

Sec.  5.  ...  That  when  the  people  of  any  one  of  said  rebel 
States  shall  have  formed  a  constitution  of  government  in  con 
formity  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  in  all  respects, 
framed  by  a  convention  of  delegates  elected  by  the  male  citizens 
of  said  State,  twenty-one  years  old  and  upward,  of  whatever 
race,  color,  or  previous  condition,  who  have  been  resident  in 
said  State  for  one  year  previous  to  the  day  of  such  election, 
except  such  as  may  be  disfranchised  for  participation  in  the 
rebellion,  or  for  felony  at  common  law,  and  when  such  consti 
tution  shall  provide  that  the  elective  franchise  shall  be  enjoyed 
by  all  such  persons  as  have  the  qualifications  herein  stated 
for  electors  of  delegates,  and  when  such  constitution  shall  be 
ratified  by  a  majority  of  the  persons  voting  on  the  question  of 
ratification  who  are  qualified  as  electors  for  delegates,  and  when 
such  constitution  shall  have  been  submitted  to  Congress  for 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         46 1 

examination  and  approval,  and  Congress  shall  have  approved 
the  same,  and  when  said  State,  by  a  vote  of  its  legislature  elected 
under  said  constitution,  shall  have  adapted  the  amendment  to 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  proposed  by  the  thirty- 
ninth  Congress,  and  known  as  article  fourteen,  and  when  said 
article  shall  have  become  part  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  said  State  shall  be  declared  entitled  to  representation  in 
Congress,  and  senators  and  representatives  shall  be  admitted 
therefrom  on  their  taking  the  oath  prescribed  by  law,  and  then 
and  thereafter  the  preceding  sections  of  this  act  shall  be  inoper 
ative  in  said  State  :  Provided,  That  no  person  excluded  from  the 
privilege  of  holding  office  by  said  proposed  amendment  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,1  shall  be  eligible  to  election  as 
a  member  of  the  convention  to  frame  a  constitution  for  any  of 
said  rebel  States,  nor  shall  any  such  person  rate  for  members 
of  such  convention.  .  .  . 

Disqualified  for  office-holding  by  the  Fourteenth  Amend-  102.  Ku- 

-  i  r      i  K.1U.X  tCSTl" 

ment,  disfranchised  and  subjected  to  the  rule  of  the  negro  mony>  l871 
by  the  Reconstruction  Act,  the  whites  of  the  South  re-  [388j 
sorted  to  extra-legal  methods  for  maintaining  their  suprem 
acy.  Secret  societies  under  various  names  (Ku-Klux  Klans, 
Knights  of  the  White  Camelia,  Pale  Faces,  Councils  of 
Safety,  White  Leagues,  etc.)  were  founded  in  all  the 
states  of  the  South  to  thwart  the  execution  of  the  Recon 
struction  Acts  by  terrorizing  the  negroes  who  had  political 
ambitions,  and  harrying  the  scalawag  and  the  carpetbagger 
out  of  Dixie.  At  the  request  of  President  Grant,  Congress, 
on  April  20,  1871,  passed  the  "Ku-Klux  Act,"  to  en 
force  the  provisions  of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment ;  and 
a  joint  committee,  composed  of  fourteen  representatives 
and  seven  senators,  was  appointed  "to  inquire  into  the 
condition  of  the  late  insurrectionary  States,  so  far  as 

1  The  classes  of  persons  disqualified  are  enumerated  in  Section  3  of 
the  Fourteenth  Amendment. 


462       History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

regards  the  execution  of  the  laws  and  the  safety  of  the 
lives  and  property  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  " 
(see  Amendment  XIV,  Sect.  I).  The  report  of  the  com 
mittee  (February  19,  1872),  with  the  testimony  of  witnesses 
examined  both  in  Washington  and  by  a  subcommittee  in 
the  South,  fills  thirteen  closely  printed  volumes,  published 
by  the  Government  Printing  Office.  The  following  extracts 
are  from  the  testimony  of  General  John  B.  Gordon1  and 
a  negro,  Scipio  Eager,  two  of  the  one  hundred  and  forty- 
eight  witnesses  from  the  state  of  Georgia. 

Washington  D.  C.  July  27,  1871 
JOHN  B.  GORDON,  sworn  and  examined. 

Question.  The  object  we  had  in  calling  you  as  a  witness  was 
to  get  from  you  if  possible  a  general  view  of  the  condition  of 
the  State  of  Georgia,  to  ascertain  whether  property  and  life  are 
protected  there,  whether  any  crimes  have  been  committed  by 
disguised  men.  From  your  general  knowledge  of  affairs  in  that 
State,  we  desire  you  to  tell  us  whatever  will  enable  the  committee 
to  understand  fully  the  condition  of  affairs  in  Georgia.  .  .  . 

Answer.  ...  I  want  to  say  very  distinctly  that  our  people 
have  not  entertained  animosity  and  bitterness  toward  the  troops ; 
our  feelings  are  directed  toward  these  camp-followers  and  men 
who  have  come  in  our  midst  since  the  war  —  men  without  char 
acter  and  without  intelligence,  except  a  certain  sort  of  shrewd 
ness  by  which  they  have  been  enabled  to  impose  themselves 
upon  the  negro  and  acquire  gain,  some  of  them  very  much  gain, 
out  of  the  pittances  they  have  been  able  to  get  out  of  the  negro 
one  way  and  another.  Some  of  them  have  gotten  into  office 
from  counties  where  they  never  were  but  once  or  twice  during 

1  Gordon  was  candidate  for  Governor  of  Georgia  in  1868.  He  had 
been  a  valuable  officer  in  Lee's  army,  and  was  "  in  at  the  death  "  at 
Appomattox.  It  was  his  reply  to  Lee's  messenger  on  the  morning  of 
April  9,  1865,  "Tell  General  Lee  that  I  have  fought  my  corps  to  a 
frazzle,"  that  determined  the  Southern  commander  to  surrender.  Quoted 
by  J.  F.  Rhodes,  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  V,  p.  125. 


Twenty  Years  of  Reptiblican  Supremacy         463 

the  whole  canvass.  ...  I  know  of  one  or  two  members  of  the 
legislature  who  never  resided  at  all  in  'the  counties  from  which 
they  were  sent,  except  a  few  days  before  the  election.  My 
own  impression,  from  what  I  have  seen  in  Georgia,  is  that  the 
negroes,  left  free  from  this  influence,  would  have  been  exceed 
ingly  peaceable.  The  very  kindliest  relations  exist  between  the 
old  masters  and  their  former  servants.  .  .  .  Our  people  have 
no  interest  in  driving  these  negroes  out  of  the  country.  Their 
interest  is  directly  the  reverse.  We  want  them  there.  We  oppose 
their  being  carried  away,  even  to  Mississippi.  .  .  . 

I  will  state  a  fact  which  I  think  will  be  borne  out  by  every 
honest  man  in  Georgia  —  that  the  negro  today,  before  a  jury 
of  Southern  men  in  Georgia,  has  as  fair  a  chance  of  justice  as 
a  white  man,  if  not  a  better  chance.  I  believe  this  as  firmly  as 
that  I  am  sitting  in  this  chair.  .  .  . 

Question.  What  do  you  know  of  any  combinations  in  Georgia 
known  as  Ku-Klux,  or  by  any  other  name,  who  have  been 
violating  law  ? 

Answer.  I  do  not  know  anything  about  any  Ku-Klux  organ 
ization,  as  the  papers  talk  about  it  ...  but  I  do  know  that  an 
organization  did  exist  in  Georgia  at  one  time.  I  know  that  in 
1868  ...  I  was  approached  and  asked  to  attach  myself  to  a 
secret  organization  in  Georgia.  .  .  .  The  object  of  this  organ 
ization  was  explained  to  me  at  the  time;  and  I  want  to  say 
that  I  approved  of  it  most  heartily.  .  .  . 

Question.    Tell  us  all  about  what  that  organization  was. 

Answer.  The  organization  was  simply  this — nothing  more  or 
nothing  less :  it  was  an  organization,  a  brotherhood  of  property- 
holders,  the  peaceable,  law-abiding  citizens  of  the  State,  for 
self-protection.  The  instinct  of  self-protection,  prompted  that 
organization;  the  sense  of  insecurity  and  danger,  particularly 
in  those  neighborhoods  where  the  negro  population  largely  pre 
dominated.  .  .  .  We  were  afraid  to  have  a  public  organization ; 
because  we  supposed  that  it  would  be  construed  at  once,  by  the 
authorities  at  Washington,  as  an  organization  antagonistic  to 
the  Government  of  the  United  States.  .  .  .  This  organization, 
I  think,  extended  nearly  all  over  the  State.  It  was,  I  say.  an 
organization  purely  for  self-defence.  It  had  no  more  politic?  in 


464       History  of  tJie  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

it  than  the  organization  of  the  Masons.  .  .  .  This  society  was 
purely  a  police  organization,  to  keep  the  peace,  to  prevent 
disturbance  in  our  State.  .  .  . 

Question.    You  had  no  riding  about  at  nights  ? 

Answer.  None  on  earth.  I  have  no  doubt  that  such  things 
have  occurred  in  Georgia.  It  is  notoriously  stated  .  .  .  that  dis 
guised  parties  have  committed  outrages  in  Georgia.  .  .  .  There 
is  not  a  good  man  in  Georgia  who  does  not  deplore  that  thing 
as  much  as  any  radical  deplores  it.  When  I  use  the  term  "  radi 
cal,"  I  do  not  mean  to  reflect  upon  the  Republican  party  gener 
ally  ;  but  in  our  State  a  republican  is  a  very  different  sort  of  a 
man  from  a  republican  generally  in  the  Northern  States.  In 
our  State  republicanism  means  nothing  in  the  world  but  creat 
ing  disturbance,  riot,  and  animosity,  and  niching  and  plundering. 
This  is  what  it  means  in  our  State — nothing  else.  ...  It  strikes 
me  as  the  very  highest  commentary  upon  the  law-abiding  spirit 
of  the  people  of  Georgia  that  such  men  as  I  could  name — men 
in  high  position  who  have  plundered  our  people  by  the  million 

—  still  live  and  are  countenanced  upon  the  streets.  .  .  . 

I  know  that  the  general  feeling  at  the  North  is  that  our  people 
are  hostile  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  Upon  that 
point  I  wish  to  testify.  ...  I  know  very  well  that  if  the  pro 
gramme  which  our  people  saw  set  on  foot  at  Appomattox 
Court-House  [see  No.  98,  p.  442]  had  been  carried  out  —  if 
our  people  had  been  met  in  the  spirit  which  we  believe  existed 
there  among  the  officers  and  soldiers,  from  General  Grant  down 

—  we  would  have  had  no  disturbance  in  the  South.  .  .  .    Right 
or  wrong,  it  is  the  impression  of  the  southern  mind  —  it  is  the 
conviction  of  my  own  mind,  in  which  I  am  perfectly  sincere  and 
honest  —  that  we  have  not  been  met  in  the  proper  spirit.   We 
in  Georgia  do  not  believe  that  we  have  been  allowed  proper 
credit  for  our  honesty  of  purpose.  ...    To  say  to  our  people : 
"  You  are  unworthy  to  vote ;  you  cannot  hold  office ;  we  are 
unwilling  to  trust  you ;  you  are  not  honest  men ;  your  former 
slaves  are  better  fitted  to  administer  the  laws  than  you  are ; " 
this  sort  of  dealing  with  us  has  emphatically  alienated  our  people. 
The  burning  of  Atlanta  and  all  the  devastation  through  Georgia 
never  created  a  tithe  of  the  animosity  that  has  been  created  by 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         465 

this  sort  of  treatment  of  our  people.  Not  that  we  wanted  offices ; 
that  is  not  the  point  at  all,  though  our  people  feel  that  it  is  an 
outrage  to  say  that  the  best  men  in  our  midst  shall  not  hold 
office.  .  .  .  We  feel  a  sense  of  wrong  as  honorable  men.  We 
do  not  think  we  have  done  anything  in  the  dark.  .  .  .  We  had 
fought  the  contest  out ;  we  had  been  defeated ;  and  we  thought 
that  ought  to  be  the  last  of  it.  That  was  the  way  we  felt  at  the 
South.  By  the  course  that  has  been  pursued  toward  us  since 
the  surrender  we  have  been  disappointed,  and  the  feeling  of 
alienation  among  our  people  has  in  this  way  been  increased 
more  than  by  any  other  one  fact.  In  addition  to  that,  we  in 
Georgia  think  that  some  of  the  most  grievous  outrages  have  been 
inflicted  upon  our  people  by  the  military  authorities  sustained 
by  the  Government. 

Atlanta,  Georgia,  October  27,  1871 
SCIPIO  EAGER  (colored),  sworn  and  examined. 

Question.  What  is  your  age,  where  were  you  born,  and  where 
do  you  now  live  ? 

Answer.  I  am  about  twenty-four  or  twenty-five  years  old,  as 
nigh  as  I  can  get  at  it ;  I  do  not  know  my  age  exactly.  I  was 
born  in  Hancock  County  and  I  live  in  Washington  County 
when  I  am  at  home. 

Q.  Why  did  you  leave  ? 

A.  Because  the  Ku-Klux  were  after  me. 

Q.  Are  the  Ku-Klux  in  Washington  County  ? 

A.  Yes,  sir ;  there 's  where,  my  brother  got  killed. 

Q.  Did  they  do  anything  to  you  ? 

A.  Yes  sir,  they  whipped  me  so  bad  that  I  never  laid  down 
and  rested  for  three  weeks  after  they  got  through  with  me.  .  .  . 

Q.  At  what  time  did  they  go  to  your  house ;  in  the  day-time 
or  night-time  ? 

A.  It  was  in  the  night. 

Q.  How  many  of  them  were  there  ? 

A.  About  a  hundred,  as  near  as  I  can  get  at  it.  I  heard 
some  say  who  counted  them  that  there  were  a  hundred  of  them. 

Q.  How  were  they  fixed  up  ? 

A.  They  had  uniforms  on. 

Q.  Describe  the  uniform  as  well  as  you  can. 


466     History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

A.  Some  of  them  had  white,  some  had  black ;  they  had  all 
sorts  of  colors.1 

Q.  Did  you  know  any  of  them  ? 

A.  Yes  sir,  I  knew  some  of  them  .  .  .  three  or  four  [names 
follow]. 

Q.  Tell  us  what  they  did  when  they  came  to  your  house ; 
give  us  a  history  of  the  transaction. 

A.  They  came  and  got  me  first  and  tied  my  hands  behind 
me,  and  asked  where  was  my  other  brother.  ...  I  said,  "  Gentle 
men,  what  are  you  going  to  do  with  me  ? "  He  said,  "  Never 
mind,  I  will  tell  you  what  when  I  am  through  with  you."  They 
said  we  never  voted  right  Mr.  Alfred  Harrison  tried  his  best 
to  get  us  not  to  go  to  the  election,  but  we  would  go  to  the 
election,  and  we  voted.  . . .  They  carried  me  off  into  the  woods, 
about  a  mile  from  the  house,  while  they  killed  my  brother.  I 
kept  questioning  them  :  "  What  are  you  going  to  do  with  me  ? 
I  have  not  done  anything  at  all."  They  said,  "  Never  mind,  we 
will  tell  you  what  we  will  do  after  we  carry  you  off."  They  had 

1  The  costume  of  the  Ku-Klux  riders  is  described  as  follows :  "  A 
long  gown  with  loose  flowing  sleeves,  with  a  hood  in  which  the  apertures 
for  the  eyes,  nose  and  mouth  are  trimmed  with  some  red  material.  .  .  . 
In  some  instances  they  have  disguised  their  horses  so  that  even  they 
should  not  be  recognized.  ...  It  is  a  large  loose  gown  covering  the 
whole  person  quite  closely,  buttoned  close  around  and  reaching  from 
the  head  clear  down  to  the  floor,  covering  the  feet  and  dragging  on 
the  ground.  It  is  made  of  bleached  linen,  starched  and  ironed,  and 
in  the  night,  by  moonlight,  it  glitters  and  rattles"  (Statement  of  Joseph 
Ilolden  of  North  Carolina,  quoted  by  Fleming,  Documentary  History 
of  Reconstruction,  Vol.  II,  p.  364).  "A  trick  of  frequent  perpetration 
in  the  country  was  for  a  horseman,  spectral  and  ghostly  looking,  to 
stop  before  the  cabin  of  some  negro  needing  a  wholesome  impression 
and  call  for  a  bucket  of  water.  If  a  dipper  or  gourd  was  brought,  it  was 
declined,  and  the  bucket  full  of  water  demanded.  As  if  consumed  by 
raging  thirst  the  horseman  grasped  it  and  pressed  it  to  his  lips.  He 
held  it  there  till  every  drop  of  the  water  was  poured  into  a  gum  or 
oiled  sack  concealed  beneath  the  Ku-Klux  robe.  Then  the  empty 
bucket  was  returned  to  the  amazed  negro  with  the  remark  :  '  That 's 
good.  It 's  the  first  drink  of  water  I  've  had  since  I  was  killed  at 
Shiloh.'  Then  a  few  words  of  counsel  as  to  future  behavior  made  an 
impression  not  likely  to  be  disregarded"  (Lester  and  Wilson,  The 
Ku-Klux  Klan,  pp.  98-99). 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy          467 

killed  a  man  last  year  over  there.  They  carried  me  right  through 
to  his  grave,  and  told  me  they  were  going  to  kill  me.  .  .  .  They 
had  their  pistols  at  my  face  on  both  sides  ;  they  were  all  around 
me.  I  stopped  talking  and  would  not  say  anything.  They  all 
got  into  a  huddle,  just  like  a  swarm  of  bees.  .  .  .  After  they 
pulled  their  disguises  off  their  faces,  they  came  there  and  told 
me  that  I  was  to  be  whipped.  I  thought  it  was  all  right,  and 
that  it  would  be  better  to  be  whipped  than  to  be  killed  like  my 
brother.  In  my  brother's  back  I  counted  some  hundred  and 
odd  shots,  bullets  and  buckshot  holes.  .  .  . 

Q.  Did  they  whip  you  over  your  clothes  ? 

A.  No,  sir!  ...  They  took  off  every  rag  of  clothes  I  had, 
and  laid  me  down  on  the  ground,  and  some  stood  on  my  head 
and  some  on  my  feet  I  can't  tell  how  many  men  whipped  me 
at  once.  They  went  out  and  got  great  big  long  brushes,  as  big 
as  these  chair-posts,  and  they  whipped  them  all  into  frassels. 
There  are  welts  on  me  now.  ...  I  tried  to  run,  and  some  threw 
rocks  at  me,  and  some  said  "  Shoot  him  "  ;  but  they  did  not. 

Q.  Did  they  get  after  you  again  ? 

A.  Yes,  sir ;  in  July.  .  .  . 

Q.  What  did  they  do  ? 

A.  They  did  n't  catch  me  then.  They  came  and  searched  my 
house.  They  had  dogs  to  search  around,  but  they  did  n't  catch  me. 

Q.  What  kind  of  dogs  ? 

A.  What  they  call  "  nigger-hounds  "  ;  such  as  they  had  in 
the  old  slavery  times;  Dudley  had  the  dogs. 

Q.  Do  they  keep  such  dogs  in  your  county  now  ? 

A.  Yes,  sir ;  just  on  purpose  for  that  business.  .  .  . 

Q.  Are  there  many  Ku-Klux  up  there  ? 

A.  O  yes,  sir;  you  could  see  a  hundred  and  fifty  any  time 
before  I  came  away  from  there.  .  .  . 

<2-  Have  any  of  those  people  been  arrested  or  punished  for 
killing  your  brother  or  whipping  you  ? 

A.  No,  sir;  I  have  been  here  since  July,  and  I  have  been 
around  mighty  near  to  every  one  of  these  offices,  and  I  could 
not  do  anything.  .  .  .  Mr.  Harrison,  the  man  who  killed  my 
brother,  he  said  it  was  no  use  to  have  anything  done  but  to 
have  him  buried. 


468     History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 


103.  The 
liberal  Re 
publican 
movement 
of  1872 

[394] 


Q.  What  did  you  go  to  him  for  ? 

A.  I  did  not  know  what  to  do.  I  was  just  like  a  rabbit 
when  the  dogs  are  after  him ;  I  had  to  do  anything  I  could  to 
try  to  save  my  life. 

THE  AFTERMATH  OF  THE  WAR 

Toward  the  end  of  Grant's  first  term  a  group  of  "  pro 
gressive  "  Republicans,  disgusted  with  the  official  corrup 
tion,  the  harsh  measures  applied  to  the  South,  the  military 
autocracy,  and  the  burdensome  protective-tariff  policy 
which  characterized  the  administration  at  Washington, 
started  "an  independent  movement  that  seemed  to  presage 
a  new  era  in  American  politics."  1  The  call  to  arms  was 
sent  out  by  a  state  convention,  assembled  at  Jefferson 
City,  Missouri,  January  24,  1872  : 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  Liberal  Republicans  of  Missouri, 
faithful  now,  as  we  were  in  the  dark  days  of  civil  war,  to  the 
principles  of  true  republicanism,  by  no  act  or  word  will  en 
danger  rightful  sovereignty  of  the  Union,  emancipation,2  equal 
ity  of  civil  rights,3  or  enfranchisement.4  To  these  established 
facts,  now  embedded  in  the  Constitution,  we  claim  the  loyalty 
of  all  good  citizens. 

Resolved,  That  a  true  and  lasting  peace  can  come  only  from 
such  proposed  reconciliation  as  enfranchisement  has  wrought  in 
this  State,5  nor  can  those  governments  be  pure  or  just  in  which 

1  J.  F.  Rhodes,  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  VI,  p.  417. 

2  By  the  Thirteenth  Amendment. 

3  By  the  Fourteenth  Amendment,  Sect.  I. 

4  By  the  Fifteenth  Amendment. 

6  Missouri,  by  a  combination  of  liberal  Republicans  and  Democrats, 
had  just  revised  the  harsh  Constitution  of  1865,  which  disfranchised 
"rebel  sympathizers."  "  The  State  [Missouri]  had  not  seceded,  but  tens 
of  thousands  of  her  people  had  joined  the  rebel  ranks.  To  prevent  them 
from  sharing  in  the  government  while  fighting  to  overthrow  it,  these 
allies  of  the  Rebellion  had  by  an  amendment  to  the  State  Constitution 
been  disqualified  from  exercising  the  right  of  citizenship."  —  James  G. 
Blaine,  Twenty  Years  of  Congress,  Vol.  II,  p.  517. 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         469 

the  tax-payers  have  no  active  part.  We  therefore  demand,  with 
equal  suffrage  for  all,  complete  amnesty  for  all,  that  the  intelli 
gent  and  experienced  of  every  State  may  be  welcomed  to  active 
service  for  the  common  welfare. 

Resolved,  That  no  form  of  taxation  is  just  or  wise  which  puts 
needless  burdens  upon  the  people.  We  demand  a  genuine  re 
form  of  the  tariff,  so  that  those  duties  shall  be  removed,  which 
in  addition  to  the  revenue  yielded  to  the  Treasury,  involve  in 
crease  in  the  price  of  domestic  products,  and  a  consequent  tax 
for  the  benefit  of  favored  interests. 

Resolved,  That  the  shameless  abuse  of  government  patronage 
for  the  control  of  conventions  and  elections,  whether  in  the  in 
terests  of  an  individual,  a  faction,  or  a  party,  with  the  conse 
quent  corruption  and  demoralization  of  political  life,  demands  a 
thorough  and  genuine  reform-  of  public  service.  Those  who 
would  suppress  investigation  forget  that  they  owe  a  higher  duty 
to  the  country  than  to  any  party.  .  .  . 

Resolved,  That  local  self-government  with  impartial  suffrage, 
will  guard  the  rights  of  all  citizens  more  securely  than  any  cen 
tralized  authority.  It  is  time  to  stop  the  growing  encroachment 
of  executive  power,  the  use  of  coercion  or  bribery  to  ratify  a 
treaty,  the  packing  of  a  Supreme  Court  to  relieve  rich  corpora 
tions,  the  seating  of  members  of  Congress  not  elected  by  the 
people,  the  resort  to  unconstitutional  laws  to  cure  Ku-Klux  dis 
orders.1  .  .  .  We  demand  for  the  individual  the  largest  liberty 
consistent  with  public  order,  for  the  State,  self-government, 
and  for  the  nation,  return  to  the  methods  of  peace,  and  the 
constitutional  limitations  of  power. 

Resolved,  That  true  Republicanism  makes  it  not  the  less  our 
duty  to  expose  corruption,  denounce  usurpation  of  power,  and 
work  for  reforms  necessary  to  the  public  welfare.  The  times 
demand  an  uprising  of  honest  citizens  to  sweep  from  power  the 
men  who  prostitute  the  name  of  an  honored  party  to  selfish  in 
terests.  We  therefore  invite  all  Republicans,  who  desire  the 

1  The  student  may  find  what  acts  of  President  Grant's  first  admin 
istration  are  referred  to  in  this  paragraph  by  consulting  J.  F.  Rhodes, 
History  of  the  United  States  since  1850,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  267  ff.,  313  ff., 
347  #• 


47°     History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

reforms  herein  set  forth,  to  meet  in  national  mass  convention  at 
the  city  of  Cincinnati,  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  May  next  at 
12  m.,  there  to  take  such  action  as  our  conviction  of  duty  and 
the  public  exigency  may  require. 

Of  the  convention  that  met  at  Cincinnati,  May  i,  1872, 
in  response  to  the  above  call,  the  correspondent  of  the 
Nation  (May  9)  wrote:  "I  doubt  whether  a  more  respect 
able,  honest,  intellectual,  public-spirited,  body  of  men  ever 
got  together  for  a  similar  purpose."  The  "  leader  and 
master-mind  "  of  the  movement  was  Carl  Schurz,  a  Ger 
man  refugee  of  1848,  who  won  great  distinction  in  his 
adopted  land  as  general  in  the  Civil  War,  United  States 
senator  from  Missouri,  and  Secretary  of  the  Interior  in 
President  Hayes's  cabinet.  Schurz  was  elected  chairman  of 
the  convention,  and  delivered  an  opening  address  "unique 
in  the  annals  of  political  assemblies."  J 

Nobody  can  survey  this  vast  and  enthusiastic  assembly, 
gathered  from  all  parts  of  the  Republic,  without  an  emotion  of 
astonishment  and  hope  —  astonishment  considering  the  spon 
taneity  of  the  impulse  which  has  brought  it  together,  and  hope 
considering  the  great  purpose  for  which  it  has  met.  The  Re 
public  may  well  congratulate  itself  upon  the  fact  that  such  a 
meeting  was  possible.  Look  at  the  circumstances  from  which 
it  has  sprung.  We  saw  the  American  people  just  issued  from 
a  great  and  successful  struggle,  and  in  the  full  pride  of  their 
National  strength,  threatened  with  new  evils  and  dangers  of  an 
insidious  nature,  and  the  masses  of  the  population  apparently 
not  aware  of  them.'  We  saw  jobbery  and  corruption,  stimulated 
to  unusual  audacity  by  the  opportunities  of  a  protracted  civil 
war,  invading  the  public  service  of  the  Government  .  .  .  and  we 
saw  a  public  opinion  most  deplorably  lenient  in  its  judgment  of 

1  Bancroft  and  Dunning,  w  The  Political  Career  of  Carl  Schurz,"  ap 
pendix  to  the  Autobiography  of  Schurz,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  343.  For  a  polite 
denunciation  of  Schurz  by  a  political  opponent,  see  Elaine,  Twenty 
Years  of  Congress,  Vol.  II,  pp.  438-440. 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy          471 

public  and  private  dishonesty.  .  .  .  We  saw  the  Government  in 
dulging  in  wanton  disregard  of  the  laws  of  the  land,  and  resort 
ing  to  daring  assumptions  of  unconstitutional  power.  .  .  .  We 
saw  men  in  the  highest  places  of  the  Republic  employ  their 
power  and  opportunities  for  selfish  advantage,  thus  stimulating 
the  demoralization  of  our  political  life,  and  by  their  conspicuous 
example,  and  the  loud  chorus  of  partisan  sycophancy,  drown  the 
voice  of  honest  criticism.  We  saw  part  of  our  common  country 
which  had  been  convulsed  by  a  disastrous  rebellion,  most  griev 
ously  suffering  from  the  consequences  of  civil  war ;  and  we  saw 
the  haughty  spirit  of  power  refusing  to  lift  up  those  who  had 
gone  astray  and  were  now  suffering,  by  a  policy  of  generous 
conciliation  and  the  statesmanship  of  common  sense.  We  ob 
served  this,  and  at  the  same  time  a  reckless  and  a  greedy  party 
spirit,  in  the  name  of  a  great  organization,  crowned  with  the 
laurels  of  glorious  achievements,  striving  to  palliate  or  justify 
these  wrongs  and  abuses,  to  stifle  the  moral  sense  of  the  people, 
and  to  drive  them  by  a  tyrannical  party  discipline  not  only  to 
submit  to  this  for  the  present,  but  to  perpetuate  it,  that  the 
political  power  of  the  country  might  be  preserved  in  the  hands 
of  those  who  possessed  it.  ... 

The  question  might  well  have  been  asked,  Have  the  Ameri 
can  people  become  so  utterly  indifferent  to  their  true  interests, 
to  their  National  harmony,  to  the  purity  of  their  political  life,  to 
the  integrity  of  their  free  institutions,  to  the  very  honor  of  the 
American  name,  that  they  should  permit  themselves  to  be  driven 
like  a  flock  of  sheep  by  those  who  presume  to  lord  it  over  them  ? 
That  question  has  now  found  an  answer.  The  virtue,  the  spirit 
of  independence,  the  love  of  liberty,  the  republican  pride  of  the 
American  people  are  not  dead  yet  and  do  not  mean  to  die ; 
and  that  answer  is  given  in  thunder-tones  by  the  convention 
of  American  freemen  here  assembled.  .  .  . 

We  have  a  grand  opportunity  before  us,  grand  and  full  of 
promise.  We  can  crush  corruption  in  our  public  concerns ;  we 
can  give  the  Republic  a  pure  and  honest  Government ;  we  can 
revive  the  authority  of  the  laws  ;  we  can  restore  to  full  value  the 
Constitutional  safeguard  of  our  liberties ;  we  can  infuse  a  higher 
moral  spirit  into  our  political  life ;  we  can  reanimate  in  the  hearts 


47 2     History  of  the  Rcptiblic  since  the  Civil  War 

of  the  whole  people  of  every  section  of  the  land  a  fraternal  and 
proud  National  feeling.  We  can  do  all  this,  but  we  can  do  it 
only  by  throwing  behind  us  the  selfish  spirit  of  political  trade. 
We  obey  the  purest  and  loftiest  inspirations  of  the  popular 
uprising  which  sent  us  here.  ...  An  uprising  of  the  people  such 
as  we  behold  will  not  occur  every  day,  nor  every  year,  for  it 
must  spring  from  the  spontaneous  impulse  of  the  popular  mind. 
Disappoint  the  high  expectations  brought  forth  by  that  spon 
taneous  impulse,  and  you  have  not  only  lost  a  great  opportunity, 
but  you  have  struck  a  blow  at  the  confidence  which  the  people 
have  in  themselves,  and  for  a  long  time  popular  reform  move 
ments  will  not  rise  again  under  the  weight  of  the  discredit  which 
you  will  have  brought  upon  them.  .  .  . 

Reform  must  become  a  farce  in  the  hands  of  those  who  either 
do  not  understand  it  or  do  not  care  for  it.  If  you  mean  reform, 
intrust  the  work  to  none  but  those  who  can  understand  it  and 
honestly  do  care,  and  care  more  for  it  than  for  their  own  personal 
ends.  ...  I  earnestly  deprecate  the  cry  we  have  heard  so  fre 
quently  :  "  Anybody  to  beat  Grant."  There  is  something  more 
wanted  than  to  beat  Grant.  Not  anybody  who  might  by  cheap 
popularity,  or  by  astute  bargains  and  combinations,  or  by  all  the 
tricks  of  political  wire-pulling,  manage  to  scrape  together  votes 
enough  to  be  elected  President.  We  do  not  merely  want  another, 
but  we  want  a  better  President  than  we  now  have.  We  do  not 
want  a  mere  change  of  person  in  the  Administration  of  the 
Government ;  we  want  the  overthrow  of  a  pernicious  system.  .  .  . 
We  want  a  Government  which  the  best  people  of  this  country 
will  be  proud  of.  Not  anybody  can  accomplish  that,  and,  there 
fore,  away  with  the  cry  :  "  Anybody  to  beat  Grant "  ;  a  cry  too 
paltry,  too  unworthy  of  the  great  enterprise  in  which  we  are 
engaged.  I  do  not  struggle  for  the  mere  punishment  of  an 
opponent,  nor  for  a  temporary  lease  of  power.  .  .  . 

If  we  present  men  to  the  suffrages  of  the  people  whose  char 
acter  and  names  appeal  to  the  loftiest  instincts  and  aspirations 
of  the  patriot-citizen,  we  shall  have  on  our  side  ...  the  conscience 
of  the  Nation.  If  that  be  done  success  will  be  certain.  Then 
we  can  appeal  to  the  minds  and  hearts,  to  the  loftiest  ambition 
of  the  people,  with  these  arguments  and  entreaties  which  spring 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         473 

only  from  a  clear  conviction  of  right. . .  .  Then  shall  we  success 
fully  overcome  those  prejudices  which  now  confront  us,  and  the 
insidious  accusation  that  this  great  Convention  is  a  mere  gath 
ering  of  disappointed  and  greedy  politicians,  will  fall  harmless 
at  our  feet,  for  we  shall  have  demonstrated  by  our  action  that 
we  were  guided  by  the  purest  and  most  patriotic  of  motives. 

Let  us  despise  as  unworthy  of  our  cause  the  tricky  manipu 
lations  by  which,  to  the  detriment  of  the  Republic,  political  bodies 
have  so  frequently  been  controlled.  Let  us,  in  the  face  of  the 
great  things  to  be  accomplished,  rise  above  all  petty  considera 
tions.  Personal  friendship  and  State  pride  are  noble  sentiments ; 
but  what  is  personal  friendship,  what  is  State  pride,  compared 
with  the  great  duty  we  owe  to  our  common  country,  and  the 
awful  responsibility  resting  upon  our  action  as  sensible  men  ? 
We  know,  that  not  every  one  of  us  can  be  gratified  by  the  choice 
of  his  favorite ;  many  of  us  will  have  to  be  disappointed ; 1  but 
in  this  solemn  hour  our  hearts  should  know  but  one  favorite, 
and  that  is  the  American  Republic. 

Pardon  me  for  these  words  of  warning  and  entreaty.  I  trust 
nobody  will  consider  them  misplaced.  I  fervently  hope  the  result 
of  our  deliberations  will  show  that  they  were  not  spoken  in  vain. 
I  know  that  they  have  sprung  from  the  most  anxious  desire  to 
do  what  is  best  for  our  country,  and  thus  I  appeal  to  you  with 
all  the  fervor  of  anxious  earnestness.  We  stand  on  the  threshold 
of  a  great  victory,  and  victory  will  surely  be  ours  if  we  deserve  it. 

Our  case  against  Great  Britain  for  damage  done  to  104.  The 
American  shipping  during  the  Civil  War,  by  the  Alabama  ^^ci 
and  other  cruisers  built  for  the  Confederate  government  humbug" 

1  Schurz  was  destined  himself  to  be  bitterly  disappointed  when,  the 
very  day  after  his  noble  speech,  a  political  bargain  was  made  by  the 
Gratz  Brown  forces  of  Missouri  and  the  Greeley  fojces  of  New  York  to 
keep  Charles  Francis  Adams,  our  distinguished  ex-minister  to  England, 
out  of  the  nomination.  Schurz  wrote  to  Greeley,  May  6,  "  My  whole  heart 
was  and  is  in  the  cause  I  have  so  laboriously  worked  for,  and  it  is  with 
a  grief  which  I  cannot  express  that  I  see  a  movement  so  hopefully  be 
gun,  so  noble  and  so  promising,  dragged  down  to  the  level  of  an  ordinary 
political  operation,  and  stripped  of  its  moral  power."  —  Writings  of 
Carl  Schurz,  ed.  Frederick  Bancroft,  Vol.  II,  p.  367. 


474     History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

in  British  ports,  dragged  on  for  seven  years  after  the  close 
of  the  war.  Even  after  the  court  of  arbitration  had  met  at 
Geneva  (December  15,  1871),  proceedings  threatened  to 
come  to  a  standstill  because  of  certain  enormous  "indirect 
claims  "  for  damages,1  asserted  by  the  radical  Republicans 
in  the  United  States.  These  claims  were  forcibly  stated  by 
Charles  Sumner  of  Massachusetts  in  a  speech  in  the  Senate, 
April  13,  1869. 

Close  upon  the  outbreak  of  our  troubles,  little  more  than  on& 
month  after  the  bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter,  when  the  Rebel 
lion  was  still  undeveloped  .  .  .  the  country  was  startled  by  the 
news  that  the  British  Government  had  intervened  by  a  Procla 
mation  which  accorded  belligerent  rights  to  the  Rebels.  At  the 
early  date  when  this  was  done,  the  Rebels  were,  as  they  remained 
to  the  close,  without  ships  on  the  ocean  .  .  .  and  yet  the  conces 
sion  was  general,  being  applicable  to  the  ocean  and  the  land,  so 
that  by  British  fiat  they  became  ocean  belligerents  as  well  as  land 
belligerents.  ...  In  the  swiftness  of  this  bestowal  there  was  very 
little  consideration  for  a  friendly  power.  .  .  . 

Unfriendly  in  the  precipitancy  with  which  it  was  launched, 
this  concession  was  more  unfriendly  in  its  substance.  It  was  the 
first  stage  in  the  depredations  on  our  commerce.  Had  it  not  been 
made,  no  Rebel  ship  could  have  been  built  in  England ;  every 
step  in  her  building  would  have  been  piracy.  Nor  could  any 
munitions  of  war  have  been  furnished.  .  .  .  The  direct  con 
sequence  of  this  concession  was  to  place  the  Rebels  on  an 
equality  with  ourselves  in  all  British  markets.  ...  At  one 

1  For  example,  Earl  Russell,  foreign  minister  in  the  Palmerston 
cabinet  in  1862,  who,  by  his  own  confession  later,  was  responsible  for 
the  departure  of  \ktAlabama  from  Liverpool,  said  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
May  13,  1872  :  "  Unless  we  are  assured  that  no  representative  of  Her 
Majesty  shall  appear  in  a  room  on  the  table  of  which  those  menda 
cious  Claims  are  lying,  ...  I  shall  certainly  renew  again  and  again  my 
motion.  .  .  .  The  case  appears  to  me  to  be  one  between  the  honour  of  the 
Crown  of  this  country  and  the  election  of  General  Grant  as  President  of 
the  United  States.  For  my  part  I  prefer  the  honour  of  Her  Majesty." 
—  Hansard,  Parliamentary  Debates,  series  3,  Vol.  CCXI,  pp.  646-647. 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         475 

stroke  they  were  transformed  not  only  into  belligerents,  but  into 
customers.  ...  It  was  a  proclamation  of  equality  between  the 
National  Government  on  the  one  side  and  the  Rebels  on  the  other, 
and  no  plausible  word  can  obscure  this  distinctive  character. 

Then  came  the  building  of  the  pirate  ships,  one  after  the  other. 
While  the  Alabama  was  still  in  the  ship-yard  it  became  apparent 
that  she  was  intended  for  the  Rebels.  Our  Minister  at  London 
and  our  Consul  at  Liverpool  exerted  themselves  for  her  arrest 
and  detention.  They  were  put  off  from  day  to  day.  On  the 
24th  July,  1862,  Mr.  Adams  "completed  his  evidence,"  accom 
panied  by  an  opinion  from  the  eminent  barrister  Mr.  Collier, 
afterward  Solicitor-General,  declaring  the  plain  duty  of  the  British 
Government  to  stop  her.  Instead  of  acting  promptly  by  the  tele 
graph,  five  days  were  allowed 'to  run  out,  when  at  last,  too  tardily, 
the  necessary  order  was  despatched.  Meanwhile  the  pirate  ship 
escaped  from  the  port  of  Liverpool  by  a  stratagem,  and  her 
voyage  began  with  music  and  frolic.  .  .  .  The.  pirate  ship  found 
refuge  in  an  obscure  harbor  of  Wales,  known  as  Moelfra  Bay, 
where  she  lay  in  British  water  from  7.30  P.M.  July  29th  to  about 
3.00  A.M.  July  3ist  ...  and  during  this  time  she  was  supplied 
with  men  from  the  British  steam-tug  Hercules,  which  followed 
her  from  Liverpool.  .  .  . 

The  dedication  of  the  ship  to  the  Rebel  service,  from  the  very 
laying  of  the  keel,  and  the  organization  of  her  voyage,  with 
England  as  her  naval  base,  from  which  she  drew  munitions  of 
war  and  men,  made  her  departure  as  much  a  hostile  expedition 
as  if  she  had  sailed  forth  from  Her  Majesty's  dock-yard.  ...  It 
was  in  no  just  sense  a  commercial  transaction,  but  an  act  of  war. . . . 
Individual  losses  may  be  estimated  with  reasonable  accuracy. 
Ships  burnt  or  sunk  with  their  cargoes  may  be  counted  and  their 
value  determined ;  but  this  leaves  without  recognition  the  vaster 
damage  to  commerce  driven  from  the  ocean,  and  that  other 
damage,  immense  and  infinite,  caused  by  the  prolongation  of  the 
war,  all  of  which  may  be  called  national  in  contradistinction  to 
individual. 

Our  national  losses  have  frankly  been  conceded  by  eminent 
Englishmen  [Cobden,  Bright,  Forster].  .  .  .  How  to  authenticate 
the  extent  of  the  national  loss  with  reasonable  certainty  is  not 


476     History  of  the  Repiiblic  since  the  Civil  War 

without  difficulty ;  but  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  such  a  loss 
occurred.  It  is  folly  to  question  it.  The  loss  may  be  seen  in 
various  circumstances,  as,  in  the  rise  of  insurance  on  all  American 
vessels,  the  fate  of  the  carrying  trade,  which  was  one  of  the  great 
resources  of  our  country ;  the  diminution  of  our  tonnage  .  .  . 
the  falling  off  in  our  exports  and  imports,  with  due  allowance 
for  our  abnormal  currency  and  the  diversion  of  war.  .  .  . 

Beyond  the  actual  loss  in  the  national  tonnage,  there  was 
a  further  loss  in  the  arrest  of  our  natural  increase  in  this 
branch  of  industry,  which  an  intelligent  statistician  puts  at  5% 
annually,  making  in  1866  a  total  loss  on  this  account  of 
1,384,953  tons,  which  must  be  added  to  the  1,229,035  tons 
actually  lost.  The  same  statistician,  after  estimating  the  value 
of  a  ton  at  $40  gold,  .  .  .  puts  the  sum-total  of  our  national 
loss  on  this  account  at  $110,000,000.  Of  course  this  is  only 
an  item  in  our  bill.  .  .  . 

This  is  what  ••  I  have  to  say  at  present  on  national  losses 
through  the  destruction  of  commerce.  These  are  large  enough  ; 
but  there  is  another  chapter,  where  they  are  far  larger :  I  refer, 
of  course,  to  the  national  losses  caused  by  the  prolongation  of 
the  'uwar,  and  traceable  directly  to  England.  .  .  .  No  candid 
person  who  studies  this  eventful  period  can  doubt  that  the 
Rebellion  was  originally  encouraged  by  hope  of  support  from 
England  —  that  it  was  strengthened  at  once  by  the  concession 
of  belligerent  rights  on  the  ocean  —  that  it  was  fed  to  the  end 
by  British  supplies  —  that  it  was  encouraged  by  every  well- 
stored  British  ship  that  was  able  to  defy  our  blockade  —  that 
it  was  quickened  into  frantic  life  with  every  report  from  the 
British  pirates,  flaming  anew  with  every  burning  ship.  .  .  .  Not 
weeks  nor  months,  but  years,  were  added  in  this  way  to  our 
war,  so  full  of  costly  sacrifice.  .  .  . 

The  Rebellion  was  suppressed  at  a  cost  of  more  than  $4,000,- 
000,000.  ...  If  through  British  intervention,  the  war  was 
doubled  in  duration,  or  in  any  way  extended,  as  cannot  be 
doubted,  then  is  England  justly  responsible  for  the  additional 
expenditure  to  which  our  country  was  doomed.  .  .  .  This  plain 
statement,  without  one  word  of  exaggeration  or  aggravation,  is 
enough  to  exhibit  the  magnitude  of  the  national  losses,  whether 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy          477 

from  the  destruction  of  our  commerce,  the  prolongation  of  the 
war,  or  the  expense  of  the  blockade.1 

President  Grant,  who  later  called  the  exorbitant  claims 
advanced  by  Sumner  the  "  indirect  damage  humbug," 
opened  the  ^ay  for  a  friendly  renewal  of  the  negotia 
tions  by  the  following  friendly  passage  in  his  Message  of 
December  5,  1870  : 

I  regret  to  say  that  no  conclusion  has  been  reached  for  the 
adjustment  of  the  claims  against  Great  Britain,  growing  out  of 
the  course  adopted  by  that  Government  during  the  rebellion. 
The  Cabinet  of  London,  so  far  as  its  views  have  been  expressed, 
does  not  appear  to  be  willing  to  concede  that  Her  Majesty's 
Government  was  guilty  of  any  negligence,  or  did  or  permitted 
any  act  during  the  war  by  which  the  United  States  has  just 
cause  of  complaint.  Our  firm  and  unalterable  convictions  are 
directly  the  reverse.  I  therefore  recommend  to  Congress  to 
authorize  the  appointment  of  a  commission  to  take  proof  of 
the  amount  and  the  ownership  of  these  several  claims,  on  notice 
to  the  representative  of  Her  Majesty  at  Washington,  and  that 
authority  be  given  for  the  settlement  of  these  claims  by  the 
United  States,  so  that  the  Government  shall  have  the  ownership 
of  the  private  claims  as  well  as  the  responsible  control  of  all 
the  demands  against  Great  Britain.  It  cannot  be  necessary  to 
add  that  whenever  Her  Majesty's  Government  shall  entertain 
a  desire  for  a  full  and  friendly  adjustment  of  these  claims,  the 
United  States  will  enter  upon  their  consideration  with  an  earnest 
desire  for  a  conclusion  consistent  with  the  honor  and  dignity  of 
both  nations.2 

1  Sumner's  bill  against  England  was  $15,000,000  for  individual  losses, 
$i  10,000,000  for  the  loss  of  our  merchant  marirxe,  and  $2,000,000,000  for 
the  prolongation  of  the  war  —  a  grand  total  of  $2,125,000,000  ! 

2  Grant's  recommendation  resulted  in  the  appointment  of  a  joint 
high  commission,  which  concluded  the  Treaty  of  Washington  (1871), 
by  which  the  claims  of  the  United  States  were  referred  to  a  tribunal  at 
Geneva.    It  was  chiefly  due  to  Charles  Francis  Adams,  the  American 
member  of  the  board  of  five  arbitrators  (and  our  minister  to  England 
at  the  time  of  the  "escape"  of  the  Alabama],  that  the  "indirect  claims" 


47 8     History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

The  most  remarkable  proposal  of  the  solution  of  the 
difficulty  with  England  over  the  Alabama  claims  came 
from  Senator  Zachariah  Chandler  of  Michigan,  if  we  may 
fully  trust  the  account  of  his  colleague,  Senator  W.  M. 
Stewart  of  Nevada,  the  knight-errant  of  the  American 
frontier  democracy. 

During  the,  latter  part  of  February,  1865,  it  became  evident 
that  the  Civil  War  was  drawing  to  a  close,  and  there  was  great 
joy  in  Washington,  and  intense  relief  felt  among  the  officers 
at  the  helm  of  government  when  the  surrender  at  Appomattox, 
April  9,  1865,  virtually  terminated  the  frightful  struggle. 

England  had  wiped  our  commerce  from  the  seas  by  building 
the  Alabama,  the  Florida,  the  Shenandoah,  and  other  swift 
privateers  for  the  Confederates,  which  were  let  loose  upon  the' 
shipping  of  the  United  States.  There  is  no  doubt  that  this 
country  had  ample  cause  for  war  with  Great  Britain,  and  there 
was  a  strong  undercurrent  of  sentiment  in  favor  of  it. 

Senator  Zach  Chandler  of  Michigan  was  one  of  the  leaders 
of  the  Senate,  and  a  man  of  wealth  and  patriotism.  No  Senator 
contributed  more  in  brains  and  action  to  assist  the  Union  cause 
than  he.  He  wished  to  see  the  speedy  restoration  of  the  South 
ern  States,  and  was  anxious  to  smite  the  British  Lion  for  the 
destruction  of  our  commerce.  He  inaugurated  a  movement 
which  secretly  spread  with  great  rapidity,  and  brought  us  almost 
to  a  rupture  with  England.  At  that  time  our  ships  of  trade  had 
been  obliterated  from  every  ocean,  and  the  American  flag,  which 
once  had  been  carried  by  our  fast  sailing  ships  to  every  port, 
had  disappeared.  We  had  no  navy,  but  practically  every  harbor 
was  protected  by  the  iron-clads,  called  Monitors,  which  had 
been  invented  and  built  during  the  war.  Our  big  sea-coast 
cities  were  so  thoroughly  defended,  therefore,  that  no  foreign 
enemy  could  have  made  a  successful  assault  upon  us  by  sea.  .  .  . 

were  dropped  and  the  negotiations  conducted  on  the  basis  of  what 
Sumner  called  the  personal  losses  ($15,000,000)  only.  The  anxiety  in 
England  over  these  critical  negotiations  at  a  most  critical  moment  in 
the  history  of  Europe  (the  Franco-Prussian  War)  is  reflected  in  John 
Morley's  Life  of  Gladstone,  Vol.  II,  chap.  ix. 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         479 

This  started  Senator  Chandler  thinking,  and  he  evolved  a 
daring  scheme.  His  bitterness  against  England  seemed  to  in 
crease  after  the  war  had  been  terminated.  One  day  he  drew 
me  aside  in  the  Senate  cloak-room  and  unfolded  his  plan. 

"  I  propose  that  we  take  an  appeal  to  President  Lincoln," 
he  said,  "  signed  by  influential  men,  to  call  an  extra  session  of 
Congress,  and  send  200,000  trained  veterans  into  the  British 
possessions  north  of  us;  100,000  picked  troops  from  the  Federal 
Army,  and  the  same  number  from  the  flower  of  Lee's  army.  I 
have  thought  of  this  seriously  for  weeks,  and  I  shall  make  every 
effort  to  bring  it  about."  He  was  intensely  in  earnest,  and  I 
knew  that  he  would  back  his  plan  up  with  all  the  brains  and 
energy  at  his  command. 

"  We  have  confronting  us,"  he  continued,  "  a  great  problem. 
Our  country  is  rent  in  twain.  If  we  could  march  into  Canada 
an  army  composed  of  the  men  who  have  worn  the  gray  side 
by  side  with  the  men  who  have  worn  the  blue  to  fight  against 
a  common  hereditary  enemy,  it  would  do  much  to  heal  the 
wounds  of  the  war,  hasten  reconstruction,  and  weld  the  North 
and  South  together  in  a  bond  of  friendship. 

"  I  believe  from  my  knowledge  of  human  nature  that  those 
fellows  who  have  been  fighting  each  other  for  the  past  four 
years  would  sail  in  and  lick  any  army  on  the  face  of  the  globe, 
and  be  glad,  and  proud,  and  anxious  to  do  it.  I  believe  that 
100,000  of  Grant's  men  and  100,000  of  Lee's  could  whip  any 
army  of  twice  the  size  on  earth.  .  .  . 

"  It  would  be  impossible  for  England  and  the  Canadians  to 
organize  an  armed  force  to  meet  the  splendid  army  of  veterans1 
we  could  throw  across  the  border.  England  has  a  navy,  of  course, 
but  she  can't  do  us  any  harm,  because  we  have  n't  any  commerce 
to  be  injured,  and  our  ports  are  impregnable." 

It  was  Senator  Chandler's  idea,  of  course,  that  the  United 
States  should  seize  Canada  from  Great  Britain  in  payment 
for  the  enormous  losses  inflicted  on  our  commerce  by  British- 
built  vessels  sold  to  the  Confederate  Government.  He  talked 
this  matter  over  with  me  many  times.  The  prospect  of  ex 
tending  our  northern  boundary  to  the  North  Pole  pleased 
him.  ...  At  that  time  Alaska  was  about  to  be  annexed,  and 


480      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

it  was  realized  that  the  British  possessions  in  Canada  would 
come  in  handy. 

Finally,  so  far  had  the  plot  progressed  that  thirty  Senators 
had  been  pledged  to  support  it,  and  I  attended  many  informal 
caucuses  at  which  the  next  steps  to  be  taken  were  discussed. 

Then,  at  almost  the  very  instant  the  scheme  was  to  be  sprung 
upon  the  country,  and  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  the  Presi 
dent  to  secure  his  cooperation,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  assassinated. 
This  made  the  carrying  out  of  the  plan  impossible.  From  the 
very  first  day  Johnson  took  the  oath  of  office  as  President  he 
was  at  war  with  Congress,  and  the  invasion  of  Canada  never 
materialized.  Chandler's  faith  and  enthusiasm  in  the  scheme 
won  some  of  the  best  minds  in  the  Senate  to  his  proposition. 

A  NEW  INDUSTRIAL  AGE 

The  years  immediately  following  the  Civil  War  saw  a 
rapid  increase  in  farm  acreage  and  railroad  mileage  in  the 
[404]  United  States.  The  farmers,  dependent  on  the  railroads 
for  transporting  their  crops  to  the  markets  and  shipping 
centers  of  the  East,  watched  with  hostile  jealousy  the  rising 
schedule  of  freight  rates,  which  the  railroads  maintained 
was  necessary  to  pay  the  current  expenses  of  operation  in 
a  thinly  populated  country  and  a  fair  rate  of  interest  on 
the  enormous  initial  cost  of  the  construction  of  the  roads. 
In  March,  1869,  Mr.  H.  C.  Wheeler,  a  farmer  of  Illinois, 
sent  out  the  following  call  for  a  convention  to  be  held  at 
Bloomington  to  consider  the  case  against  the  railroads  : 

To  the  Farmers  of  the  Northwest :  Will  you  permit  a  working 
fanner,  whose  entire  interest  is  identified  with  yours,  to  address 
to  you  a  word  of  warning  ? 

A  crisis  in  our  affairs  is  approaching,  and  dangers  threaten. 

You  are  aware  that  the  price  of  many  of  our  leading  staples 
is  so  low  that  they  cannot  be  transported  to  the  markets  of 
Europe,  or  even  to  our  own  seaboard,  and  leave  a  margin  for 
profits,  by  reason  of  the  excessive  rates  of  transportation. 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         481 

During  the  War  but  little  attention  was  given  to  the  great 
increase  in  the  price  of  freights,  as  the  price  of  produce  was 
proportionately  high;  but  we  look  in  vain  for  any  abatement, 
now  that  we  are  obliged  to  accept  less  than  half  the  former 
prices  for  much  that  we  raise. 

We  look  in  vain  for  any  diminution  in  the  carrying  rates,  to 
correspond  with  the  rapidly  declining  prices  of  the  means  of 
living,  and  of  materials  for  constructing  boats,  cars,  engines,  and 
tracks ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  we  see  a  total  ignoring  of  that 
rule  of  reciprocity  between  the  carrying  and  producing  interests 
which  prevails  in  every  other  department  of  trade  and  commerce. 

Does  it  not  behoove  us,  then,  to  inquire  earnestly  how  long 
we  can  stand  this  descending  scale  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
ascending  on  the  other,  and  which  party  must  inevitably  and 
speedily  go  to  the  wall  ? 

I  by  no  means  counsel  hostility  to  the  carrying  interest  — 
it  is  one  of  the  producer's  best  friends ;  but,  like  the  fire  that 
cooks  our  food  and  warms  our  dwelling,  it  may  also  become  the 
hardest  of  masters.  The  fire  fiend  laughs  as  he  escapes  from 
our  control,  and  in  an  hour  licks  up  and  sweeps  away  the 
accumulations  of  years  of  toil. 

As  we  cherish  the  fire  fiend,  so  we  welcome  the  clangor  of 
the  carrier  fiend  as  he  approaches  our  dwellings,  opening  up 
communications  with  the  busy  marts  of  trade.  But  it  needs  no 
great  stretch  of  imagination  to  hear  also  the  each  !  each !  cachi- 
nations  of  the  carrier  fiend  as  he  speeds  beyond  our  reach,  and 
leaving  no  alternative  but  compliance  with  his  exorbitant  demands. 

Many  of  us  are  not  aware  of  the  gigantic  proportions  the 
carrying  interest  is  assuming.  Less  than  forty  years  ago  the 
first  railroad  fire  was  kindled  on  this  continent,  [but]  which  now, 
like  a  mighty  conflagration,  is  crackling  and  roaring  over  every 
prairie  and  through  every  mountain  gorge.  The  first  year  pro 
duced  fifteen  miles ;  the  last,  five  thousand.1 

On  the  same  mammoth  scale  goes  on  the  work  of  organiza 
tion  and  direction.  By  the  use  of  almost  unlimited  means  it 
enlists  in  its  service  the  finest  talents  of  the  land  as  officers, 

1  The  total  mileage,  which  was  about  30,000  in  1860,  increased  to 
52,000  in  1870  and  to  87,800  in  1880. 


482      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

attorneys,  agents,  and  lobbyists ;  gives  free  passes  and  splendid 
entertainments  to  the  representatives  -  of  the  people ;  and  even 
transports  whole  legislatures  into  exceeding  high  mountains, 
showing  them  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  with  lavish  promises 
of  reward  for  fealty  and  support ;  witness  its  land  grants  and 
franchises l  secured  from  the  powers  that  be,  such  as  no  similar 
interest  ever  acquired  even  in  the  Old  World.  .  .  . 

I  fancy  I  hear  the  response :  "  These  things  are  so,  but  what 
can  we  do  ?  "  Rather,  my  friends,  what  can  we  not  do  ?  What 
power  can  withstand  the  combined  and  concentrated  force  of 
the  producing  interest  of  this  Republic  ?  But  what  avails  our 
strength  if,  like  Polyphemus  in  the  fable,  we  are  unable  to  use 
it  for  want  of  eyesight?  or  like  a  mighty  army  without  disci 
pline,  every  man  fighting  on  his  own  hook  ?  or  worse,  reposing 
in  fancied  security  while  Delilahs  of  the  enemy  have  well  nigh 
shorn  away  the  last  lock  of  strength  ?  In  this  respect  we  con 
stitute  a  solitary  exception,  every  other  interest  having  long 
since  protected  itself  by  union  and  organization. 

As  a  measure  calculated  to  bring  all  interested,  as  it  were, 
within  speaking  distance,  and  as  a  stepping  stone  to  an  efficient 
organization,  I  propose  that  the  farmers  of  the  great  north-west 
concentrate  their  efforts,  power,  and  means,  as  the  great  trans 
portation  companies  have  done  theirs,  and  accomplish  something 
instead  of  frittering  away  their  efforts  in  doing  nothing. 

And  to  this  end  I  suggest  a  convention  of  those  opposed  to 
the  present  tendency  to  monopoly  and  extortionate  charges  by 
our  transportation  companies,  to  meet  at  Bloomington,  Illinois, 
on  the  twentieth  day  of  April  next,  for  the  purpose  of  discus 
sion,  and  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  raise  funds  to  be 
expended  in  the  employment  of  the  highest  order  of  legal  talent, 
to  put  in  form  of  report  and  argument  an  exposition  of  the 
rights,  wrongs,  interests,  and  injuries  (with  their  remedies)  of 

1  Before  the  year  1872  our  government  had  granted  to  the  railroads 
155,000,000  acres  of  public  land  —  a  tract  equal  to  New  England,  New 
York,  and  Pennsylvania  combined.  About  $200,000,000  had  been  granted 
as  subsidies  by  state  legislatures,  besides  private  subscriptions  to  the 
stocks  and  bonds  of  railway  companies  (cf.  E.  R.  Johnson,  American 
Railway  Transportation,  p.  314). 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         483 

the  producing  masses  of  the  north-west,  and  lay  it  before  the 
authorities  of  each  state,  and  of  the  general  government.  Con 
gress  is  now  in  session,  and  the  constitutional  convention  of 
this  state  will  then  again  be  convened.  Farmers,  now  is  the 
time  for  action ! 

The  meeting  in  response  to  this  call  was  held  in 
Bloomington,  Illinois,  on  April  20,  1869.  It  adopted 
the  following  resolutions  : 

First,  that  the  present  rate  of  taxation  and  transportation  are 
unreasonable  and  oppressive  and  ought  to  be  reduced. 

Second,  that  our  legal  rights  to  transportation  and  market 
ought  to  be  clearly  set  forth  and  defined. 

Third,  that  if  there  be  no  such  remedy,  measures  should  be 
taken  to  secure  one  by  appropriate  legislation. 

Fourth,  that  statistics  should  be  collected  and  published  to 
show  the  relation  of  the  north-west  products  to  those  of  the 
rest  of  the  country. 

Fifth,  that  nothing  can  be  accomplished  for  the  enforcement 
of  our  rights  and  the  redress  of  our  wrongs  without  an  efficient 
organization  on  the  well-known  principles  that  give  the  great 
corporations  such  tremendous  power. 

Sixth,  that  with  honest  pay  for  honest  labor,  and  compensation 
commensurate  with  great  service,  we  can  secure  the  assistance 
and  support  of  the  highest  order  of  learning,  ability  and  skill. 

Seventh,  that  this  convention  should  appoint  a  commissioner 
of  agricultural  and  carrying  statistics  to  prepare  and  publish, 
with  the  aid  of  eminent  counsel,  a  report  of  the  products  of 
the  north-west,  the  rights  to  market  and  transportation,  and  the 
remedies  available  for  existing  wrongs,  the  expenses  thereof  to 
be  defrayed  by  subscription  price  for  such  report. 

Kansas  followed  Illinois  in  the  agitation  for  farmers' 
rights  against  the  railroads.  Then  other  Western  states 
took  up  the  cause.  At  a  National  Agricultural  Congress 
held  at  Indianapolis,  May  28,  1873,  the  following  resolu 
tions  were  adopted : 


484      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

Whereas,  we  recognize  the  railways  of  the  country  as  an  effec 
tual  means  of  developing  its  agricultural  resources,  and  as  hav 
ing  an  interest,  common  and  inseparable,  with  the  country 
through  which  they  pass ;  and,  whereas,  we  have  in  times  past 
fostered,  and  aided  them  by  liberal  charters  and  concessions, 
made  by  public  and  private  parties,  and  still  desire  to  encourage 
further  development  of  the  railway  system  ;  therefore 

Resolved,  that  a  fair  degree  of  reciprocity  would  suggest  that 
corporations  having  a  common  interest  and  public  aid,  should 
in  their  turn  endeavor  to  subserve  the  interest  of  the  country 
through  which  they  pass,  by  charging  fair  rates  of  freights,  and 
by  the  equitable  and  just  treatment  of  all  localities  along  their 
lines. 

Resolved,  that  on  the  contrary  railroad  corporations  in  many 
instances  have  been  exorbitant  in  their  charges,  have  discrimi 
nated  unjustly  between  localities  and  have  failed  to  respond 
to  the  generous  grants  of  powers  and  moneys  that  have  been 
given  to  them  by  our  national  and  state  governments. 

Resolved,  that  the  system  adopted  and  now  practiced  in  the 
building  of  railroads,  viz. :  the  soliciting  of  stock  subscriptions 
from  individuals,  corporations  and  countries  .  .  . ;  then  requiring 
the  producer  and  the  shipper  to  pay  dividends  on  the  fictitious 
cost  by  charging  excessive  freight  and  passenger  tariffs  —  oper 
ates  most  injuriously  to  the  best  interests  of  the  farming  class, 
and  calls  loudly  for  reform  and  restraint  by  adequate  legislation. 

Resolved,  that  we  recommend  all  farmers  to  withhold  their 
voices  and  their  aid  from  railway  corporations,  unless  it  be  fully 
conceded  and  agreed  that  corporations  so  aided  are  subject  to 
regulation  by  the  power  incorporating  them,  and  will  not,  after 
receiving  the  advantages  conferred  by  the  public  authority,  claim 
the  immunities  of  a  private  corporation.  .  .  . 

Resolved,  that  a  railway,  being  practically  a  monopoly,  con 
trolling  the  transportation  of  nearly  all  the  country  through  which 
it  passes ;  and  that  as  competition,  except  at  a  few  points,  can 
not  be  relied  on  to  fix  rates,  therefore  it  becomes  the  duty  of 
the  state  to  fix  reasonable  maximum  rates,  affording  a  fair  re 
muneration  to  the  transporter,  and  without  being  an  onerous 
charge  to  the  producer  and  consumer. 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         485 

Resolved,  that  inasmuch  as  Belgium  has  succeeded  in  regu 
lating  the  rates  upon  railways  by  government  lines,  we  ask  an 
investigation  of  the  proposition  to  control  the  rates  upon  exist 
ing  railways  by  trunk  lines  built  and  controlled  by  the  state 
authorities  and  run  at  fixed  uniform  and  cheap  rates. 

Resolved,  that  the  consolidation  of  parallel  lines  of  railway  is 
contrary  to  public  policy,  and  should  be  prohibited  by  law. 

Resolved,  that  wherever  a  railway  corporation  owns  or  con 
trols  a  line  or  lines  in  two  or  more  states,  it  is  the  right  and  duty 
of  the  general  government  to  regulate  the  rates  of  freight  and 
fare  upon  such  lines,  under  the  constitutional  power  to  regulate 
commerce  between  the  states.1 

Resolved,  that  we  commend  the  thorough  organization  of  the 
farmers  of  the  country  in  local,  county,  and  state  organizations, 
for  the  purpose  of  reforming  the  great  abuses  and  dealing  out 
equal  and  exact  justice  to  all  men. 

The  resumption  of  specie  payment,  or  the  pledge  of  106.  The  re 
the  United  States  to  pay  in  coin  at  their  full  face  value  all 


the  notes  issued  by  the  government  during  the  stress  of  the  ment,  1869- 
Civil  War,  was  attended  with  grave  embarrassments.   The 
debtor  farmer  communities  of  the  West,  who  had  done 

1  Article  I,  Sect.  VII  I,  par.  3.  The  general  government  had  already  be 
gun  to  notice  this  question  of  the  control  of  the  railroads.  A  few  months 
before  the  Indianapolis  convention,  President  Grant,  in  his  annual  Mes 
sage  of  December  2,  1872,  had  written:  "The  attention  of  Congress 
will  be  called  during  its  present  session  to  various  enterprises  for  the 
more  certain  and  cheaper  transportation  of  the  constantly  increasing 
surplus  of  Western  and  Southern  products  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 
The  subject  is  one  that  will  force  itself  upon  the  legislative  branch  of 
the  Government  sooner  or  later,  and  I  suggest,  therefore,  that  immedi 
ate  steps  be  taken  to  gain  all  available  information  to  ensure  equable 
and  just  legislation."  —  Richardson,  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presi 
dents,  Vol.  VII,  p.  195.  In  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  railways  and 
the  insistence  of  their  counsel  that  Congress  had  no  power  to  meddle 
with  their  affairs,  a  committee  on  railways  and  canals  reported,  through 
its  chairman,  G.  H.  McCrary,  in  January,  1874,  affirming  the  power  of 
Congress  to  regulate  commerce  between  the  states.  The  result  of  long 
debates  on  the  subject  was  the  Interstate  Commerce  Act  of  February  4, 
1887  (See  Muzzey,  An  American  History,  p.  425). 


486      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

magnificent  work  in  building  up  the  nation's  prosperity 
after  the  war,  had  secured  their  loans,  placed  their  mort 
gages,  rated  their  land  and  property  valuations,  and  regu 
lated  their  general  business  affairs  on  the  basis  of  the  value 
of  the  paper  currency.  Suddenly  to  raise  the  currency 
standard  to  the  basis  of  the  value  of  gold  and  silver  coin 
would  mean  a  great  hardship  for  them,  for  it  would  re 
quire  them  to  pay  their  debts  in  a  currency  which  had  a 
market  value  of  only  about  three  fourths  of  its  face  value. 
John  Sherman  of  Ohio,  of  the  Senate  committee  on 
finance,  who  wished  to  see  the  credit  of  the  United  States 
fully  maintained  in  the  eyes  of  the  gold-standard  countries 
of  the  world,  and  who  eventually,  as  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  in  President  Hayes's  cabinet,  accomplished  the 
full  resumption  of  specie  payments  (January  I,  1879), 
gave  voice  to  his  misgivings  of  too  hasty  action  in  altering 
the  standard  of  our  currency  in  the  following  speech  in 
the  Senate,  January  27,  1869  : 

Mr.  SHERMAN.    Mr.  President 

Mr.  DAVIS.  ...  I  suggest  to  the  honorable  Senator  that  my 
proposition  be  read  with  a  view  to  his  having  it  before  him  in 
connection  with  the  bill  on  which  he  proposes  to  speak. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.  The  motion  of  the  Senator  from 
Kentucky  will  be  read  if  there  be  no  objection.  [The  Chief 
Clerk  read  the  proposed  motion,  which  was  to  ...  report  a  bill 
embodying  the  substance  of  the  following  propositions 

i°.  Gold  and  silver  coin  is  the  measure  of  par  established  by 
the  world  and  adopted  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
for  all  property,  values,  debts,  and  other  pecuniary  liabilities; 
and  the  Government  of  the  United  States  having,  on  the  sale 
of  the  bonds  which  constitute  the  bulk  of  the  national  debt,  re 
ceived  greatly  less,  when  measured  by  the  par  of  gold  and  silver, 
than  their  nominal  amount,  said  bonds  should  be  discharged  by 
the  payment  in  coin  of  their  value.  .  .  . 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         487 

2°.  That  all  other  debts  and  pecuniary  liabilities  created  or 
incurred  since  the  issue  of  legal-tender  notes,  and  which  do  not 
express  to  be  payable  in  gold  or  silver  coin,  were  contemplated 
and  intended  by  the  parties  to  be  met  and  paid  in  currency ;  and 
on  the  general  resumption  of  specie  payments,  such  debts  and 
liabilities  should  be  discharged  by  the  payment  in  gold  and  silver 
coin  of  their  value.  .  .  . 

3°.  That  the  annual  expenditures  of  the  Government  should 
be  reduced  within  the  following  general  scale:  for  the  civil 
service  $45,000,000 ;  pensions  and  Indians  $30,000,000 ;  De 
partment  of  War  $25,000,000;  Navy  Department  $20,000,000; 
contingencies  and  miscellaneous  $10,000,000;  and  interest  on 
the  public  debt  $50,000,000.  And  the  whole  surplus  of  the 
revenue  should  be  faithfully  applied  to  the  extinguishment  of 
the  public  debt. 

4°.  The  taxes  which  are  now  so  grievous  a  burden  upon  the 
people  of  the  United  States  should  be  reduced  at  least  $100,- 
000,000  annually  .  .  .  and  a  day  within  three  years  should  be 
named  for  the  general  resumption  of  specie  payments.] 

Mr.  SHERMAN.  Mr.  President,  I  suppose  it  is  expected  of 
me  to  state  in  general  terms  the  reasons  that  influenced  the 
Committee  on  Finance  to  report  this  measure.  .  .  . 

And  in  the  first  place  it  is  but  right  to  recall  the  embarrass 
ments  of  the  Committee,  not  only  from  the  intrinsic  difficulties 
of  the  subjects  referred  to  us,  but  from  the  great  diversity  of 
opinion  that  exists  in  all  parts  of  the  country  as  to  the  proper 
measures  to  be  adopted.  .  .  . 

In  order  to  consider  this  measure  properly  we  must  have  a  clear 
perception  of  what  is  sought  to  be  accomplished.  The  object 
we -have  in  view  is  to  appreciate  our  currency  to  the  standard 
of  gold  as  rapidly  as  the  public  interest  will  allow.  Our  present 
currency,  or  "  lawful  money,"  consists  of  notes  of  the  United 
States  [greenbacks],  and  these  are  legal  tender  in  payments  of 
all  debts.  Based  upon  them,  and  of  equal  value  with  them,  is 
a  subsidiary  currency  of  notes  of  national  banks,  and  these  are 
redeemable  in  United  States  notes  and  receivable  in  payment 
of  taxes.  We  have  also  a  form  of  demand  notes,  convertible  at 
the  will  of  the  holder  into  lawful  money,  called  3  °/0  certificates. 


488       History  of  tJie  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

We  have  also  a  fractional  paper  currency  which  is  convertible 
into  lawful  money  on  demand.  These  four  species  of  notes 
compose  the  paper  currency  of  the  country,  and  the  amount 
of  each  is  stated  as  follows : 

United  States  notes  (greenbacks)    .     .  $356,021,073 

National  Bank  notes 299,806,565 

Three  percent  certificates 55,865,000 

Fractional  currency 34,215,715 

In  all $745.908,353 

All  this  currency  is  by  law  at  par.  .  .  .  But  in  truth  and  in  fact 
it  is  not  at  par  in  standard  money  of  the  world.  One  dollar  of 
it  has  only  the  same  purchasing  power  as  seventy-four  cents 
in  gold.  Gold,  which  is  real  money,  not  the  representative  of 
money,  but  money  itself,  of  intrinsic  value,  —  gold  is  demon 
etized  by  the  law,  cannot  be  collected  in  the  courts,  and,  like 
cotton  or  wheat,  is  treated  as  a  commodity  whose  value  is 
measured  by  what  we  call  "  lawful  money." 

Now,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  first  step  in  our  investigation 
should  be  to  abandon  the  attempt  to  reason  from  a  false  stand 
ard.  We  must,  to  begin  with  recognize  the  immutable  law  of 
currency ;  and  that  is,  there  is  but  one  par,  and  that  par  is  gold. 
Since  the  earliest  records  of  humanity  gold  and  silver  have  been 
employed  as  the  equivalent  for  effecting  exchanges.  From  Solon 
to  our  day  innumerable  attempts  have  been  made  to  substitute 
something  else  as  money,  but  in  spite  of  all,  gold  and  silver  have 
maintained  their  exclusive  dominion  as  the  money  of  mankind 

No  nation  can  permanently  adopt  a  standard  of  value  that 
will  not  be  controlled  and  regulated  by  the  standard  of  gold. 
No  degree  of  isolation,  no  expedient  of  legislation,  can  save  any 
nation  which  maintains  any  intercourse  with  foreign  nations  from 
the  operation  of  this  supreme  law.  Like  the  tides  of  the  ocean, 
or  the  movements  of  the  planets,  it  is  beyond  our  jurisdiction. . . . 
It  is  utterly  idle  for  a  commercial  people  like  the  United  States, 
with  a  foreign  commerce  of  $800,000,000  annually,  with  citi 
zens  trading  in  every  port  of  the  world,  and  receiving  annually 
400,000  immigrants,  to  escape  from  the  operation  of  this  primary 
law  of  trade.  Different  nations  have  tried  various  expedients  to 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         489 

evade  it,  and  have  always  failed.  For  centuries  gold  and  silver 
coins  were  clipped  and  alloyed,  but  it  only  took  more  of  them 
to  buy  a  certain  commodity.  In  modern  times  paper  money  or 
credit  has  been  substituted  for  real  money.  Laws  compelled  the 
people  to  take  them  as  real  money.  As  long  as  this  money  did 
not  exceed  the  amount  of  real  money  in  the  country  it  operated 
well.  It  promoted  exchanges  and  gave  great  activity  to  enter 
prises,  and  its  nominal  value  was  the  same  as  its  real  value.  But 
when  the  paper  money  was  increased,  or  the  gold  exported,  the 
paper  money  depreciated ;  it  had  less  purchasable  power,  prices 
rose,  and  either  the  paper  money  became  demonetized,  was 
rejected  and  repudiated,  or  the  false  standard  was  advanced 
in  value  to  the  gold  standard.  .  .  . 

During  our  civil  war,  both  the  United  States  and  the  rebels 
undertook  to  make  paper  not  merely  the  representative  of  money, 
but  real  money.  The  paper  money  of  the  rebels  followed  the 
course  of  continental  money  and  French  assignats.  Ours,  care 
fully  limited  in  amount,  supported  by  heavy  taxes  and  by  great 
resources,  is  still  called  lawful  money ;  but  after  all  its  value  is 
daily  measured  by  the  gold  standard.  It  is  only  the  substitute 
of  money,  to  be  paid  at  a  future  day,  and  is  not  real  money.  .  .  . 

If  then  gold  is  the  only  true  standard  of  money,  why  should 
we  not  commence  our  financial  measures  by  restoring  it  to  its 
place  as  the  legal  standard  of  money  ?  Why  not  allow  our  citi 
zens  to  base  their  future  contracts  on  gold  ?  Why  not  enforce 
these  contracts  in  the  courts  as  legal  and  valid  ? .  . .  If  this  ques 
tion  affected  alone  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  we 
might  resume  specie  payments  very  soon.  .  .  .  And  if  the  burden 
of  resumption  fell  alone  upon  the  national  banks  the*  task  would 
be  an  easy  one.  Their  securities,  deposited  with  the  Treasurer 
of  the  United  States,  are  now  nearly  equal  in  gold  to  the  amount 
of  their  circulation.  .  .  . 

But  the  distress  caused  by  an  appreciation  of  the  currency 
falls  mainly  on  the  debtor  class ;  others  surfer  only  by  his  in 
ability  to  pay.  What  does  specie  payment  mean  to  a  debtor  ?  It 
means  the  payment  of  $135  where  he  has  agreed  to  pay  $100, 
or,  which  is  the  same  thing,  the  payment  of  $100  where  he  has 
agreed  to  pay  $74.  Where  he  has  purchased  property  and  paid 


490      History  of  the  Reptiblic  since  the  Civil  War 

one  fourth  of  it,  it  means  the  loss  of  the  property ;  it  means  the 
addition  of  one  fourth  to  all  the  currency  debts  in  the  United 
States.    A  measure  to  require  a  debtor  now  to  pay  his  debt  in 
gold,  or  in  currency  equivalent  to  gold  requires  him  to  pay  135 
bushels  of  wheat  when  he  agreed  to  pay  100,  and  if  this  appre 
ciation  is  extended  through  a  period  of  three  years,  it  requires 
him  to  pay  an  interest  of  12%  in  addition  to  the  rate  he  has 
agreed  to  pay.    When  we  consider  the  enormous  indebtedness 
of  a  new  country  like  ours,  where  capital  is  scarce  and  where 
credit  has  been  substituted  in  the  place  of  capital,  it  presents  a 
difficulty  that  may  well  cause  us  to  pause.  We  may  see  that  the 
chasm  must  be  crossed,  but  it  will  make  us  wary  of  our  foot 
steps.    Good  faith  and  public  policy  demand  that  we  appreciate 
our  currency  to  gold,  but  in  the  process  we  must  be  careful  that 
bankruptcy,  distress,  and  want  do  not  fall  upon  our  citizens  who 
have  based  their  obligations  upon  your  broken  promises.    The 
debtors  of  this  country  include  the  active,  enterprising,  energetic 
men  in  all  the  various  employments  of  life.   It  is  a  serious  propo 
sition  to  change  their  contracts  so  as  in  effect  to  require  them 
to  pay  one  third  more  than  they  agreed  to  pay.    They  have  not 
paused  in  their  business  to  study  questions  of  political  economy. 
They  have  based  their  operations  upon  this  money,  which  you 
have  declared  to  be  lawful  money.   You  may  change  its  relative 
value,  but  in  doing  so  you  should  give  them  a  reasonable  oppor 
tunity  to  change  their  contracts  so  as  to  adapt  them  to  the  new 
standards  of  value  you  may  prescribe  for  them.  .  .  . 

Let  no  man  deal  with  this  question  with  the  hasty  impulse  of 
first  impressions,  for  he  will  only  illustrate  his  own  folly.  Let  no 
man  be  too' confident  of  his  own  opinions  until  he  has  examined 
those  of  others,  and  he  will  then  find  that  many  have  travelled 
this  path  before  him ;  but  no  man  has  yet  found  an  easy  road 
to  the  resumption  of  specie  payments. 

Four  years  after  the  above  speech  in  opposition  to  fix 
ing  a  definite  date  for  the  resumption  of  specie  payment 
Senator  Sherman  believed  that  the  time  had  come  when 
immediate  practical  steps  toward  resumption  could  be 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         491 

taken  without  too  great  hardship  to  the  debtor  classes.  In 
a  speech  in  the  Senate  on  January  16,  1873,  he  com 
mitted  himself  to  the  resumption  policy. 

The  restoration  of  our  currency  to  a  specie  standard  is  an 
object  of  primary  importance.  The  present  condition  of  our 
currency  governs  and  controls  all  other  questions  of  political 
economy,  and  until  we  make  it  conform  to  and  be  the  equiva 
lent  of  money  —  of  gold  coin,  the  recognized  standard  of  money 
among  all  the  civilized  nations  —  we  cannot  rest  upon  a  solid 
basis  for  any  kind  of  business  or  for  public  or  private  credit. 
Every  man  now  buys  or  sells  upon  a  fluctuating  standard  of 
measurement.  Every  man  who  borrows  feels  that  he  may  be  com 
pelled  to  pay  in  a  different  money  than  he  receives.  Every  pro 
ducer  feels  that  [in  addition]  to  the  uncertainty  of  supply  and 
demand  he  must  also  speculate  on  the  uncertainty  of  the  kind 
and  value  of  money  with  which  he  is  to  be  paid.  .  .  .  The 
people  at  large,  while  boasting  of  their  restored  credit,  of  vast 
payments  on  their  public  debt,  yet  must  feel  that  the  public 
debt,  held  by  them  in  the  form  of  United  States  notes,  is  less 
valuable  than  gold,  which  it  promises  to  pay ;  is  less  valuable 
than  any  other  form  of  public  debt.  .  .  . 

Again,  all  the  existing  laws  authorizing  United  States  notes 
and  bank  notes  are  based  on  the  theory  of  specie  payments. 
The  notes  were  only  issued,  however,  during  war,  under  a  sus 
pension  of  specie  payments ;  there  was  no  medium  of  payment 
except  the  public  credit.  .  .  .  Ordinarily  the  functions  of  a 
Government  in  furnishing  money  are  limited  to  stamping  on 
gold  and  silver  of  a  certain  weight  and  fineness  its  intrinsic 
value.  Here  its  duty  ends.  But  in  war  this  process  of  coin 
ing  did  not  meet  the  public  necessities,  and  the  United  States 
coined  its  credit  into  money.  .  .  .  This  money  is  but  another 
form  of  public  debt,  a  promise  to  pay  specific  quantities  of 
gold  and  silver.  .  .  . 

If,  then,  public  faith,  public  policy,  and  the  spirit  of  our  laws 
demand  that  our  currency  be  restored  to  the  specie  standard,  it 
would  seem  that  the  only  remaining  inquiry  should  be,  What 
is  the  best  way  to  resume  ?  But  here  we  meet  the  objections 


492      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

of  many  business  men,  the  most  active  and  enterprising  of  our 
people,  who  tell  us  that  specie  payments  with  them  adds  largely 
to  the  burden  of  their  debts.  .  . .  Some  tell  us  they  are  prepared 
to  meet  the  gradual  approach  to  specie  payments  caused  by  the 
increased  business  and  credit  of  the  country,  while  others  tell  us 
that  the  country  needs  more  currency;  that  its  growth  in  popu 
lation,  expansion  in  business  and  new  enterprises,  render  an 
increase  of  currency  indispensable.  The  effect  of  any  measure 
upon  the  interests  of  active  business  men  should  be  carefully 
studied,  but  individual  hardship  is  not  sufficient  reason  for  a 
violation  of  public  faith,  or  a  disregard  of  the  general  interests 
or  policy  of  the  whole  country.  .  .  .  This  argument  of  hardship 
will  apply  forever.  If  we  are  controlled  by  it  we  can  never  pay 
our  promises.  The  lapse  of  time  will  not  make  it  easier.  Our 
financial  condition  is  now  so  strong  that  we  can  afford  to  do 
right,  and  yet  in  such  a  way  as  to  injure  in  the  least  possible 
degree  those  who  contracted  debts  on  a  currency  basis.  .  .  . 

Again,  a  specie  standard  will  also  bring  gold  and  silver  coin 
into  actual  use.  The  amount  now  hoarded  has  been  variously 
estimated,  and,  with  that  deposited  in  the  Treasury  and  in  circu 
lation  in  California,  cannot  be  less  than  $200,000,000.  ...  I 
therefore  conclude  that  the  fears  of  evil  results  from  a  specie 
standard  are  greatly  exaggerated ;  that  there  will  be  no  contrac 
tion  of  the  currency,  no  disturbance  of  real  values,  no  sus 
pension  of  business,  but  that  our  present  United  States  and 
bank  notes  will  pass  as  usual  in  the  ordinary  exchanges  of 
life,  measuring  the  value  of  all  property  .  .  .  equal  to  the  real 
money  of  the  world,  and  with  no  taint  of  dishonor  or  deprecia 
tion  about  it.  ... 

A  careful  consideration  of  the  whole  subject  leads  me  to  the 
conviction  that  the  simplest  and  most  expedient  measure  is  to 
declare  by  law  that  on  and  after  the  ist  day  of  January  next 
[1874]  the  United  States  will  redeem  its  notes  either  with  coin 
or,  at  the  option  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  with  its  bonds 
of  convenient  denominations  bearing  five  percent  interest  in 
coin.  This  will  be  a  recognition  by  the  United  States  of  its 
solemn  pledge,  made  on  March  18,  1868,  that  it  will  at  the 
earliest  practicable  period  redeem  its  notes  in  coin.  .  .  . 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         493 

It  was  not  inconsistency  in  Senator  Sherman  that  led 
him,  after  opposing  resumption  of  specie  payments  in 
1869,  to  fix  a  date  for  resumption  in  1873.  He  was 
always  theoretically  in  favor  of  the  measure,  only  he  be 
lieved  that  the  time  was  not  ripe  for  it  at  the  earlier  date.1 
The  panic  of  1873  ensued,  and  resumption  was  delayed 
five  years  longer.  When  it  was  finally  accomplished  Sher 
man  himself  was  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  In  order  to 
accumulate  gold  for  the  redemption  of  the  greenbacks 
he  invited  subscriptions  to  United  States  bonds. 

Treasury  Department 
Washington,  D.C.,  January  16,  1878 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  hereby  gives  notice  that,  from 
the  2  6th  instant,  and  until  further  notice,  he  will  receive  subscrip 
tions  for  the  four  percent  funded  loan  of  the  United  States, 
in  denominations  as  stated  below,  at  par  and  accrued  interest 
in  coin. 

The  bonds  are  redeemable  July  1907,  and  bear  interest,  pay 
able  quarterly,  on  the  first  day  of  January,  April,  July,  and  Octo 
ber,  of  each  year,  and  are  exempt  from  the  payment  of  taxes  or 
duties  to  the  United  States,  as  well  as  from  taxation  in  any  form 
by  or  under  state,  municipal,  or  local  authority. 

The  subscriptions  may  be  made  for  coupon  bonds  of  $50, 
$100,  $500,  and  $1,000,  and  for  registered  bonds  of  $50,  $100, 
$500,  $1,000,  $5,000,  and  $10,000. 

Two  percent  of  the  purchase  money  must  accompany  the 
subscription ;  the  remainder  may  be  paid  at  the  pleasure  of  the 

1  He  says  in  .his  "  Recollections,"  for  example  :  "  At  this  time  [1865] 
there  was  a  wide  difference  of  opinion  between  Secretary  McCulloch 
and  myself  as  to  the  financial  policy  of  the  government  in  respect  to 
the  public  debt  and  the  currency.  .  .  .  Both  of  us  were  in  favor  of 
specie  payments,  he  by  contraction,  and  I  by  the  gradual  advancement 
of  the  credit  and  value  of  our  currency  to  the  specie  standard.  With 
him  specie  payment  was  the  primary  object.  With  me  it  was  a  second 
ary  object,  to  follow  the  advancing  credit  of  the  government."  —  John 
Sherman,  Recollections,  Vol.  I,  pp.  375-376. 


494      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

purchaser,  either  at  the  time  of  subscription,  or  thirty  days  there 
after,  with  interest  on  the  amount  of  subscription,  at  the  rate  of 
4%  per  annum,  to  date  of  payment. 

Upon  the  receipt  of  full  payment,  the  bonds  will  be  trans 
mitted,  free  of  charge,  to  the  subscribers,  and  a  commission  of 
one  fourth  of  one  per  cent  will  be  allowed  upon  the  amount  of 
subscriptions,  but  no  commission  will  be  paid  upon  any  single 
subscription  less  than  $1,000. 

Forms  of  application  will  be  furnished  by  the  treasurer  at 
Washington,  the  assistant  treasurers  at  Baltimore,  Boston, 
Chicago,  Cincinnati,  New  Orleans,  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
St.  Louis,  and  San  Francisco,  and  by  the  national  banks  and 
bankers  generally.  .  .  . 

The  interest  on  the  registered  bonds  will  be  paid  by  check, 
issued  by  the  treasurer  of  the  United  States,  to  the  order  of  the 
.holder,  and  mailed  to  his  address.  .  .  . 

Payments  for  the  bonds  may  be  made  in  coin  to  the  treas 
urer  of  the  United  States  at  Washington,  or  the  assistant  treas 
urers  at  Baltimore,  Boston,  etc.  .  .  . 

To  promote  the  convenience  of  subscribers,  the  department 
will  also  receive,  in  lieu  of  coin,  called  bonds  of  the  United 
States,  coupons  past  due  or  maturing  within  thirty  days,  or  gold 
certificates  issued  under  the  act  of  March  3,  1863,  and  national 
banks  will  be  designated  as  depositories  under  the  provisions  of 
section  5153,  Revised  Statutes  of  the  United  States,  to  receive 
deposits  on  account  of  this  loan,  under  regulations  to  be  hereafter 
prescribed. 

John  Sherman,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 


107.  Elaine's       On  December  21,    1881,  the  Senate  and  the  House 

GarfieiVpeb-  Passe<^  resolutions  for  a  memorial  service  for  the  martyred 

ruary27, 1882  President,  James  A.  Garfield,  to  be  held  in  the  Hall  of 

[409]       Representatives,  February  27,  1882,  to  which  were  invited 

the  President,  the  ex-presidents,  the  cabinet  officers,  the 

justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  the  governors  of  states. 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         495 

the  diplomatic  corps,  and  prominent  officers  of  the  army 
and  navy.1  Before  this  distinguished  audience  James  G. 
Elaine,  the  most  brilliant  orator  of  the  House,  pronounced 
the  eulogy  on  his  late  chief  and  dearest  political  friend. 

Mr.  President:  For  the  second  time  in  this  generation  the 
great  departments  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  are  as 
sembled  in  the  Hall  of  Representatives  to  do  honor  to  the  memory 
of  a  murdered  President.  Lincoln  fell  at  the  close  of  a  mighty 
struggle  in  which  the  passions  of  men  had  been  deeply  stirred. 
The  tragical  termination  of  his  great  life  added  but  another  to 
the  lengthened  succession  of  horrors  which  had  marked  so  many 
lintels  with  the  blood  of  the  first-born.  Garfield  was  slain  in  a 
day  of  peace,  when  brother  had  been  reconciled  to  brother,  and 
when  anger  and  hate  had  been  banished  from  the  land.  .  .  . 

Garfield's  early  opportunities  for  securing  an  education  were 
extremely  limited,  and  yet  were  sufficient  to  develop  in  him  an 
intense  desire  to  learn.  He  could  read  at  three  years  of  age, 
and  each  winter  he  had  the  advantage  of  the  district  school.  He 
read  all  the  books  to  be  found  within  the  circle  of  his  acquaint 
ance  ;  some  of  them  he  got  by  heart.  While  yet  in  childhood 
he  was  a  constant  student  of  the  Bible,  and  became  familiar 
with  its  literature.  The  dignity  and  earnestness  of  his  speech  in 
his  maturer  life  gave  evidence  of  this  early  training.  At  eighteen 
years  of  age  he  was  able  to  teach  school,  and  thenceforward  his 
ambition  was  to  obtain  a  college  education.  To  this  end  he  bent 
all  his  efforts,  working  in  the  harvest  field,  at  the  carpenter's 
bench,  and,  in  the  winter  season,  teaching  the  common  schools 
of  the  neighborhood.  While  thus  laboriously  occupied  he  found 
time  to  prosecute  his  studies,  and  was  so  successful  that  at 
twenty-two  years  of  age  he  was  able  to  enter  the  junior  class  at 
Williams  College,  then  under  the  presidency  of  the  venerable 
and  honored  Mark  Hopkins.  .  .  . 

1  On  the  beautiful  engraved  card  of  invitation  appeared  the  signa 
tures  of  the  chairmen  of  the  Senate  and  House  committees  on  the 
memorial  service  :  John  Sherman  for  the  Senate,  and  for  the  House 
William  McKinley,  Jr.,  destined  himself  thirty  years  later  to  fall  as  the 
third  presidential  victim  of  the  assassin's  bullet. 


496      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

From  his  graduation  at  Williams  onward,  to  the  hour  of  his 
tragic  death,  Garfield's  career  was  eminent  and  exceptional. 
Slowly  working  through  his  educational  period,  receiving  his 
diploma  when  he  was  twenty-four  years  of  age,  he  seemed  at 
one  bound  to  spring  into  conspicuous  and  brilliant  success. 
Within  six  years  he  was  successively  President  of  a  College, 
State  Senator  of  Ohio,  Major  General  of  the  Army  of  the 
United  States,  and  Representative  elect  to  the  National  Con 
gress.  A  combination  of  honors  so  varied,  so  elevated,  within 
a  period  so  brief,  and  to  a  man  so  young,  is  without  precedent 
or  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  country.  .  .  . 

With  possibly  a  single  exception,  Garfield  was  the  youngest 
member  in  the  House  when  he  entered,  and  was  but  seven 
years  from  his  college  graduation.  But  he  had  not  been  in  his 
seat  sixty  days,  before  his  ability  was  recognized  and  his  place 
conceded.  He  stepped  to  the  front  with  the  confidence  of  one 
who  belonged  there.  The  House  was  crowded  with  strong 
men  of  both  parties ;  .  .  .  but  among  them  all  none  grew  so 
rapidly,  so  firmly,  as  Garfield.  As  is  said  by  Trevelyan  of  his 
parliamentary  hero  [Fox],  Garfield  succeeded  "  because  all  the 
world  in  concert  could  not  have  kept  him  in  the  background, 
and  because  when  once  in  the  front,  he  played  his  part  with  a 
prompt  intrepidity  and  a  commanding  ease  that  were  but  the 
outward  symptoms  of  the  immense  reserves  of  energy  on  which 
it  was  in  his  power  to  draw."  Indeed,  the  apparently  reserved 
force  which  Garfield  possessed  was  one  of  his  great  character 
istics.  He  never  did  so  well  but  that  it  seemed  he  could  easily 
have  done  better.  He  never  expended  so  much  strength  but 
that  he  appeared  to  be  holding  additional  power  at  call.  This 
is  one  of  the  happiest  and  rarest  distinctions  of  an  effective 
debater,  and  often  counts  for  as  much,  in  persuading  an  assem 
bly,  as  the  eloquent  and  elaborate  argument.  .  .  . 

His  speeches  are  numerous,  many  of  them  brilliant,  all  of 
them  well  studied,  carefully  phrased,  and  exhaustive  of  the  sub 
ject  under  consideration.  .  .  .  Indeed,  if  no  other  authority 
were  accessible,  his  speeches  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
from  December  1863  to  June  1880  would  give  a  well-connected 
history  and  complete  defense  of  the  important  legislation  of 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         497 

the  seventeen  eventful  years  that  constitute  his  parliamentary 
life 

Garfield's  nomination  to  the  Presidency,  while  not  predicted 
or  anticipated,  was  not  a  surprise  to  the  country.  ...  As  a 
candidate  Garfield  grew  steadily  in  popular  favor.  .  .  .  One 
aspect  of  Garfield's  candidacy  was  unprecedented.  Never  before, 
in  the  history  of  partisan  contests  in  this  country,  had  a  success 
ful  Presidential  candidate  spoken  freely  on  passing  events  and 
current  issues.  To  attempt  anything  of  the  kind  seemed  novel, 
rash,  and  even  desperate.  The  older  class  of  voters  recalled 
the  unfortunate  Alabama  letter  in  which  Mr.  Clay  was  supposed 
to  have  signed  his  political  death-warrant.  .  .  .  The  younger 
voters  had  seen  Mr.  Greeley  in  a  series  of  vigorous  and  original 
addresses  preparing  the  pathway  for  his  own  defeat.  Unmind 
ful  of  these  warnings,  unheeding  the  advice  of  friends,  Garfield 
spoke  to  large  crowds  as  he  journeyed  to  and  from  New  York 
in  August,  to  a  great  multitude  in  that  city,  to  delegations  and 
deputations  of  every  kind  that  called  at  Mentor  during  the  sum 
mer  and  autumn.  With  innumerable  critics,  watchful  and  eager 
to  catch  a  phrase  that  might  be  turned  into  odium  or  ridicule, 
or  a  sentence  that  might  be  distorted  to  his  own  or  his  party's 
injury,  Garfield  did  not  trip  or  halt  in  any  one  of  his  seventy 
speeches.  .  .  . 

Garfield's  ambition  for  the  success  of  his  Administration  was 
high.  With  strong  caution  and  conservatism  in  his  nature,  he 
was  in  no  danger  of  attempting  rash  experiments  or  of  resort 
ing  to  the  empiricism  of  statesmanship.  But  he  believed  that 
renewed  and  closer  attention  should  be  given  to  the  questions 
affecting  the  material  interests  and  commercial  prospects  of 
fifty  millions  of  people.  ...  He  believed  with  equal  confidence 
that  an  essential  forerunner  to  a  new  era  of  national  progress 
must  be  a  feeling  of  contentment  in  every  section  of  the  Union, 
and  a  generous  belief  that  the  benefits  and  burdens  of  govern 
ment  would  be  common  to  all.  Himself  a  conspicuous  illustra 
tion  of  what  ability  and  ambition  may  do  under  Republican 
institutions,  he  loved  his  country  with  a  passion  of  patriotic 
devotion,  and  every  waking  thought  was  given  to  her  advance 
ment.  He  was  an  American  in  all  his  aspirations,  and  he  looked 


498       History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  V/ar 

to  the  destiny  and  influence  of  the  United  States  with  the  philo 
sophic  composure  of  Jefferson,  and  the  demonstrative  confidence 
of  John  Adams.  .  .  . 

On  the  morning  of  Saturday,  July  second,  the  President  was 
a  contented  and  happy  man  —  not  in  an  ordinary  degree,  but 
joyfully,  almost  boyishly  happy.  On  the  way  to  the  railroad 
station,  to  which  he  drove  slowly,  in  conscious  enjoyment  of  the 
beautiful  morning,  with  an  unwonted  sense  of  leisure  and  a 
keen  anticipation  of  pleasure,  his  talk  was  all  in  the  grateful 
and  gratulatory  vein.  He  felt  that  after  four  months  of  trial 
his  Administration  was  strong  in  its  grasp  of  affairs,  strong  in 
popular  favor,  and  destined  to  grow  stronger ;  that  grave  diffi 
culties  confronting  him  at  his  inauguration  had  been  safely 
passed ;  that  trouble  lay  behind  and  not  before  him.  ...  No 
foreboding  of  evil  haunted  him ;  no  slightest  premonition  of 
danger  clouded  his  sky.1  His  terrible  fate  was  upon  him  in  an 
instant.  One  moment  he  stood  erect,  strong,  confident  in  the 
years  stretching  out  peacefully  before  him.  The  next,  he  lay 
wounded,  bleeding,  helpless,  doomed  to  weary  weeks  of  torture, 
to  silence,  and  the  grave. 

Great  in  life,  he  was  surpassingly  great  in  death.  For  no 
cause,  in  the  very  frenzy  of  wantonness  and  wickedness,  by  the 
red  hand  of  murder,  he  was  thrust  from  the  full  tide  of  this 
world's  interests,  from  its  hopes,  its  aspirations,  its  victories, 
into  the  visible  presence  of  death  —  and  he  did  not  quail.  .  .  . 
Before  him,  desolation  and  great  darkness !  And  his  soul  was 
not  shaken.  His  countrymen  were  thrilled  with  instant,  pro 
found,  and  universal  sympathy.  Masterful,  in  his  mortal  weak 
ness,  he  became  the  center  of  the  nation's  love,  enshrined  in 
the  prayers  of  a  world.  But  all  the  love  and  all  the  sympathy 

1  A  certain  Mr.  Hudson  of  Detroit  had  warned  John  Sherman  of 
plans  for  the  president-elect's  assassination  in  November,  1880.  Gar- 
field,  on  hearing  the  warning,  replied  to  Sherman  :  "I  do  not  think 
there  is  any  serious  danger  in  the  direction  to  which  he  refers,  though 
I  am  receiving  what  I  suppose  to  be  the  usual  number  of  threatening 
letters  on  that  subject.  Assassination  can  no  more  be  guarded  against 
than  death  by  lightning,  and  it  is  best  not  to  worry  about  either."  — 
E.  B.  Andrews,  The  Last  Quarter  Century  in  the  United  States, 
Vol.  I,  p.  329. 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         499 

could  not  share  with  him  his  suffering.  He  trod  the  wine-press 
alone.  With  unfaltering  front  he  faced  death.  With  unfailing 
tenderness  he  took  leave  of  life.  Above  the  demoniac  hiss  of 
the  assassin's  bullet  he  heard  the  voice  of  God.  With  simple 
resignation  he  bowed  to  the  divine  decree. 

As  the  end  drew  near,  his  early  craving  for  the  sea  returned. 
The  stately  mansion  of  power  had  been  to  him  the  weary  hos 
pital  of  pain,  and  he  begged  to  be  taken  from  its  prison  walls, 
from  its  oppressive,  stifling  air,  from  its  homelessness  and  its 
hopelessness.  Gently,  silently,  the  love  of  a  great  people  bore 
the  pale  sufferer  to  the  longed-for  healing  of  the  sea,  to  live  or 
to  die,  as  God  should  will,  within  sight  of  its  heaving  billows, 
within  sound  of  its  manifold  voices.  With  wan,  fevered  face 
tenderly  lifted  to  the  cooling  breeze,  he  looked  out  wistfully 
upon  the  ocean's  changing  wonders ;  on  its  far  sails,  whitening 
in  the  morning  light ;  on  its  restless  waves,  rolling  shoreward  to 
break  and  die  beneath  the  noonday  sun ;  on  the  red  clouds  of 
evening  arching  low  to  the  horizon ;  on  the  serene  and  shining 
pathway  of  the  stars.  Let  us  think  that  his  dying  eyes  read  a 
mystic  meaning  which  only  the  rapt  and  parting  soul  may  know. 
Let  us  believe  that  in  the  silence  of  the  receding  world  he  heard 
the  great  waves  breaking  on  a  farther  shore,  and  felt  already 
upon  his  wasted  brow  the  breath  of  the  eternal  morning. 

Less  than  a  year  after  the  assassination  of  President  ios.  The 
Garfield  a  Senate  committee  made  the  following  report  J^J1 
on  the  disgraceful   condition   of  our  civil   service  under      j411j 
the  long-continued  reign  of  the  "  spoils  system,"  which 
Theodore  Roosevelt  later  declared  to  be  "the  most  potent 
of  all  the  forces  tending  to  bring  about  the  degradation 
of  our  politics."  * 

The  growth  of  our  country  from  350,000  square  miles  to 
4,000,000,  the  increase  of  population  from  3,000,000  to  50,- 
000,000,  the  addition  of  twenty-five  states,  imperial  in  size  and 

1  Theodore  Roosevelt,  American  Ideals  and  Other  Essays  (No.  VII), 
p.  134,  reprinted  from  Scribner's  Magazine,  August,  1895. 


500      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

capabilities,  have  caused  a  corresponding  development  of  the 
machinery  and  faculties  of  the  government.  In  the  beginning 
—  even  so  late  as  1801 — there  were  906  post-offices;  now 
there  are  44,848.  Then  there  were  69  custom-houses ;  now 
there  are  135.  Then  our  ministers  to  foreign  countries  were 
4;  now  they  are  33.  Then  our  consuls  were  63;  now  they 
are  728.  Then  less  than  1000  men  sufficed  to  administer  the 
government;  now  more  than  100,000  are  needed.  Then  one 
man  might  personally  know,  appoint  on  their  merits,  supervise 
the  performance  of  their  duties,  and  for  sufficient  cause  remove 
all  officers ;  now  no  single  human  being,  however  great  his  in 
telligence,  discrimination,  industry,  endurance,  devotion,  even  if 
relieved  of  every  other  duty,  can  possibly,  unaided,  select  and 
retain  in  official  station  those  best  fitted  to  discharge  the  many 
and  varied  and  delicate  functions  of  the  government. 

It  has  come  to  pass  that  the  work  of  paying  political  debts 
and  discharging  political  obligations,  of  rewarding  personal 
friends  and  punishing  personal  foes,  is  the  first  to  confront 
each  President  on  assuming  the  duties  of  his  office,  and  is  ever 
present  with  him  even  to  the  last  moment  of  his  official  term, 
giving  him  no  rest  and  little  time  for  the  transaction  of  other 
business,  or  for  the  study  of  any  higher  or  grander  problems  of 
statesmanship.  He  is  compelled  to  give  daily  audience  to  those 
who  .personally  seek  place  or  to  the  army  of  those  who  back 
them.  He  is  to  do  what  some  predecessor  of  his  has  left  un 
done,  or  to  undo  what  others  before  him  have  done ;  to  put 
this  man  up  and  that  man  down,  as  the  system  of  political 
rewards  and  punishments  shall  seem  to  him  to  demand.  .  .  . 

The  office  of  Chief  Magistrate  has  undergone  in  practice  a 
radical  change.  The  President  of  the. Republic  created  by  the 
Constitution  in  the  beginning,  and  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  today, 
are  two  entirely  different  public  functionaries.  There  has  grown 
up  such  a  perversion  of  the  duties  of  that  high  office,  such  a 
prostitution  of  it  to  ends  unworthy  of  the  great  idea  of  its 
creation,  imposing  burdens  so  grievous,  and  so  degrading  of 
all  the  faculties  and  functions  becoming  its  occupant,  that  a 
change  has  already  come  in  the  character  of  the  government 
itself,  which,  if  not  corrected,  will  be  permanent  and  disastrous, 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy          501 

Thus  hampered  and  beset,  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  this  nation 
wears  out  his  term  and  his  life  in  the  petty  services  of  party, 
and  in  the  bestowal  of  the  favors  its  ascendency  commands. 
He  gives  daily  audience  to  beggars  for  place,  and  sits  in  judg 
ment  upon  the  party  claims  of  contestants. 

The  Executive  Mansion  is  besieged,  if  not  sacked,  and  its 
corridors  and  chambers  are  crowded  every  day  with  the  ever- 
changing  but  never-ending  throng.  Every  Chief  Magistrate, 
since  the  evil  has  grown  to  its  present  proportions,  has  cried  out 
for  deliverance.  Physical  endurance,  even,  is  taxed  beyond  its 
power.  More  than  one  President  is  believed  to  have  lost  his  life 
from  this  cause.  The  spectacle  exhibited  of  the  Chief  Magistrate 
of  this  great  nation,  feeding,  like  a  keeper,  his  flock,  the  hungry, 
clamorous,  crowding,  jostling  multitude  which  daily  gathers 
around  the  dispenser  of  patronage,  is  humiliating  to  the  patriotic 
citizen  interested  alone  in  national  progress  and  grandeur. 

The  malign  influence  of  political  domination  in  appointments 
to  office  is  wide-spread,  and  reaches  out  from  the  President 
himself  to  all  possible  means  of  approach  to  the  appointing 
power.  It  poisons  the  very  air  we  breathe.  No  Congressman 
in  accord  with  the  dispenser  of  power  can  wholly  escape  it.  It 
is  ever  present.  When  he  awakes  in  the  morning  it  is  at  his 
door,  and  when  he  retires  at  night  it  haunts  his  chamber.  It 
goes  before  him,  it  follows  after  him,  and  it  meets  him  on  the 
way.  It  levies  contributions  on  all  the  relationships  of  a  Con 
gressman's  life,  summons  kinship  and  friendship  and  interest 
to  its  aid,  and  imposes  on  him  a  work  which  is  never  finished 
and  from  which  there  is  no  release.  Time  is  consumed,  strength 
is  exhausted,  the  mind  is  absorbed,  and  the  vital  forces  of  the 
legislator,  mental  as  well  as  physical,  are  spent  in  the  never- 
ending  struggle  for  offices. 

In  his  first  message  to  Congress,  December  6,  1881, 
President  Arthur,  repeating  the  language  of  his  letter  of 
acceptance  of  the  vice  presidency,  urged  that  "  original 
appointments  should  be  based  upon  ascertained  fitness," 
that  "the  term  of  office  should  be  stable,"  and  that  "the 


502       History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

investigation  of  all  complaints  and  the  punishment  of  all 
official  misconduct  should  be  prompt  and  thorough." 1 
While  distrusting  competitive  examinations  as  the  sole 
test  of  a  candidate's  fitness  for  office,  he  nevertheless 
promised  that  "if  Congress  should  deem  it  advisable  at 
the  present  session  to  establish  competitive  tests  for  ad 
mission  to  the  service,"  he  would  give  the  measure  his 
"earnest  support."2  On  the  very  same  day  Senator 
George  H.  Pendleton  of  Ohio  introduced  a  bill  for  the 
reform  of  the  civil  service,  which  was  finally  passed 
through  the  House  and  signed  by  President  Arthur  in 
January,  1883. 

Be  it  enacted .  .  .  That  the  President  is  authorized  to  appoint, 
by  and  with  the  advice  of  the  Senate,  three  persons,  not  more 
than  two  of  whom  shall  be  adherents  of  the  same  party,  as 
Civil  Service  Commissioners,  and  said  three  commissioners  shall 
constitute  the  United  States  Civil  Service  Commission.  .  .  . 

Sec.  2 .    That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  said  commissioners : 

FIRST.  To  aid  the  President,  as  he  may  request,  in  preparing 
suitable  rules  for  carrying  this  act  into  effect,  and  when  said 
rules  shall  have  been  promulgated  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  all 
officers  of  the  United  States  in  the  departments  and  offices  to 
which  any  such  rules  may  relate  to  aid,  in  all  proper  ways,  in 
carrying  said  rules  .  .  .  into  effect. 

SECOND.  And,  among  other  things,  said  rules  shall  provide 
and  declare,  as  nearly  as  the  conditions  of  good  administration 
will  warrant,  as  follows : 

First,  for  open,  competitive  examinations  for  testing  the  fit 
ness  of  applicants  for  the  public  service  now  classified  or  to  be 
classified  hereunder.  .  .  . 

Second,  that  all  the  offices,  places,  and  employments  so  ar 
ranged  or  to  be  arranged  in  classes  shall  be  filled  by  selections 

1  Richardson,  ed.  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents,  Vol.  VIII, 
p.  60. 

2  Ibid.  p.  63. 


Twenty  Years  of  Reptiblican  Supremacy         503 

according  to  grade  from  among  those  graded  highest  as  the 
results  of  such  competitive  examinations. 

Third,  appointments  to  the  public  service  aforesaid  in  the 
departments  at  Washington  shall  be  apportioned  among  the 
several  States  and  Territories  and  the  District  of  Columbia 
upon  the  basis  of  population  as  ascertained  at  the  last  pre 
ceding  census.  .  .  . 

Fourth,  that  there  shall  be  a  period  of  probation  before  any 
absolute  appointment  or  employment  aforesaid. 

Fifth,  that  no  person  in  the  public  service  is  for  that  reason 
under  any  obligations  to  contribute  to  any  political  fund,  or  to 
render  any  political  service,  and  that  he  will  not  be  removed  or 
otherwise  prejudiced  for  refusing  to  do  so. 

Sixth,  that  no  person  in  said  service  has  any  right  to  use  his 
official  authority  or  influence  to  coerce  the  political  action  of  any 
person  or  body.  .  .  . 

THIRD.  Said  Commission  shall,  subject  to  the  rules  that  may 
be  made  by  the  President,  make1  regulations  for  and  have  control 
of,  such  examinations,  and,  through  its  members  or  the  examin 
ers,  it  shall  supervise  and  preserve  the  records  of  the  same.  .  .  . 

FIFTH.  Said  Commission  shall  make  an  annual  report  to  the 
President  for  transmission  to  Congress,  showing  .  .  .  any  sug 
gestions  it  may  approve  for  the  more  effectual  accomplishment 
of  the  purposes  of  this  act.  [Sees.  3-5  provide  for  details  of 
holding  examinations,  and  for  punishment  by  fines  not  exceed 
ing  $1000  or  by  imprisonment  not  exceeding  one  year,  for 
falsifying  the  results  of  such  examinations.] 

Sec.  6.  That  within  sixty  days  after  the  passage  of  this  act, 
it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ...  to 
arrange  in  classes  the  several  clerks  and  persons  employed  by 
the  collector,  naval  officer,  surveyor,  and  appraisers  ...  at  their 
respective  offices  in  each  customs  district  where  the  whole  num 
ber  of  such  clerks  and  persons  shall  be  all  together  as  many 
as  fifty.  And  thereafter,  from  time  to  time,  on  the  direction  of 
the  President,  the  Secretary  shall  make  the  like  classification  or 
arrangement  of  clerks  ...  in  any  other  customs  district.  .  .  . 

Within  said  sixty  days,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Postmaster 
General  ...  to  separately  arrange  in  classes  the  several  clerks 


504      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

etc. ...  at  each  postoffice,  or  under  any  Postmaster  of  the  United 
States,  where  the  whole  number  of  said  clerks  and  persons  shall 
together  amount  to  as  many  as  fifty.  .  .  . 

Sec.  7.  That  after  the  expiration  of  six  months  from  the 
passage  of  this  act  no  officer  or  clerk  shall  be  appointed  .  .  . 
until  he  has  passed  an  examination,  or  is  shown  to  be  specially 
exempted.  .  .  . 

Sec.  8.  That  no  person  habitually  using  intoxicating  beverages 
to  excess  shall  be  appointed  to  or  retained  in  any  office,  appoint 
ment,  or  employment  to  which  the  provisions  of  this  act  are 
applicable.  .  .  . 

Sec.  10.  That  no  recommendation  of  any  person  who  shall 
apply  for  office  or  place  under  the  provisions  of  this  act  which 
may  be  given  by  any  senator  or  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  except  as  to  the  character  or  residence  of 
the  applicant,  shall  be  received  or  considered  by  any  person 
concerned  in  making  any  examination  or  appointment  under 
this  act. 

Sec.  ii.  That  no  Senator,  or  Representative,  or  Territorial 
Delegate  of  the  Congress  .  . .  and  no  executive,  judicial,  military, 
or  naval  officer  of  the  United  States  . . .  shall  directly  or  indirectly 
solicit  or  receive  .  .  .  any  assessment,  subscription,  or  contribu 
tion  for  any  political  purpose  whatever,  from  any  officer,  clerk, 
or  employee  of  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

Sec.  13.  That  no  officer  or  employee  of  the  United  States 
mentioned  in  this  act  shall  discharge,  or  promote,  or  degrade, 
or  in  any  manner  change  the  official  rank  or  compensation  of 
any  other  officer  or  employee  ...  for  giving  or  withholding  or 
neglecting  to  make  any  contribution  of  money  or  other  valuable 
thing  on  account  of  or  to  be  applied  to  the  promotion  of  any 
political  object  whatever. 

Sec.  15.  That  any  person  who  shall  be  guilty  of  violating 
any  provision  of  the  four  foregoing  sections  shall  be  deemed 
guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  shall,  on  conviction  thereof,  be 
punished  by  a  fine  not  exceeding  five  thousand  dollars,  or  by 
imprisonment  for  a  term  not  exceeding  three  years,  or  by  such 
fine  and  imprisonment  both,  in  the  discretion  of  the  court. 

Approved,  January  sixteenth  1883. 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         505 

The    Democratic   convention  which  was  to   nominate  109.  The 
Grover  Cleveland  on  its  second  ballot  met  at  Chicago,  JSm'J 
July  8,  1884.    On  the  next  day  it  adopted  as  its  platform  candidate, 
the   following  scathing  denunciation   of  the   Republican  *'  4 
party  : 

The  Democratic  party  of  the  Union,  through  its  represen 
tatives  in  national  convention  assembled,  recognizes  that,  as  the 
nation  grows  older,  new  issues  are  born  of  time  and  progress, 
and  old  issues  perish;  but  the  fundamental  principles  of  the 
Democracy,  approved  by  the  united  voice  of  the  people,  remain, 
and  ever  will  remain,  as  the  best  and  only  security  for  the 
continuance  of  free  government.  The  preservation  of  personal 
rights ;  the  equality  of  all  citizens  before  the  law ;  the  reserved 
rights  of  the  States ;  and  the  supremacy  of  the  federal  govern 
ment  within  the  limits  of  the  Constitution,  will  ever  form  the 
true  basis  of  our  liberties,  and  can  never  be  surrendered  without 
destroying  that  balance  of  rights  and  powers  which  enables  a 
continent  to  be  developed  in  peace,  and  social  order  to  be  main 
tained  by  means  of  local  self-government.  But  it  is  indispensable 
for  the  practical  application  and  enforcement  of  these  funda 
mental  principles  that  the  government  should  not  always  be 
controlled  by  one  political  party.  Frequent  change  of  adminis 
tration  is  as  necessary  as  constant  recurrence  to  the  popular 
will.  Otherwise,  abuses  grow,  and  the  government,  instead  of 
being  carried  on  for  the  general  welfare,  becomes  an  instrumen 
tality  for  imposing  heavy  burdens  on  the  many  who  are  governed, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  few  who  govern.  Public  servants  thus 
become  arbitrary  rulers.  This  is  now  the  condition  of  the  country ; 
hence  a  change  is  demanded. 

The  Republican  party,  so  far  as  principle  is  concerned,  is  a 
reminiscence.  In  practice  it  is  an  organization  for  enriching  those 
who  control  its  machinery.  The  frauds  and  jobbery  which  have 
been  brought  to  light  in  every  department  of  the  government 
are  sufficient  to  have  called  for  reform  within  the  Republican 
party.  Yet  those  in  authority,  made  reckless  by  the  long  pos 
session  of  power,  have  succumbed  to  its  corrupting  influence, 
and  have  placed  in  nomination  a  ticket  [Elaine  and  Logan] 


506      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

against  which  the  independent  portion  of  the  party  are  in  open 
revolt.  Therefore  a  change  is  demanded.  Such  a  change  was 
alike  necessary  in  1876,  but  the  will  of  the  people  was  then 
defeated  by  a  fraud  which  can  never  be  forgotten  nor  condoned. 
Again,  in  1880,  the  change  demanded  by  the  people  was  de 
feated  by  the  lavish  use  of  money  contributed  by  unscrupulous 
contractors  and  shameless  jobbers,  who  had  bargained  for  un 
lawful  profits  or  high  office.  The  Republican  party,  during  its 
legal,  its  stolen,  and  its  bought  tenures  of  power,  has  steadily 
decayed  in  moral  character  and  political  capacity.  Its  platform 
promises  are  now  a  list  of  its  past  failures.  It  demands  the 
restoration  of  our  navy ;  it  has  squandered  hundreds  of  millions 
to  create  a  navy  that  does  not  exist.  It  calls  upon  Congress  to 
remove  the  burdens  under  which  American  shipping  has  been 
depressed  ;  it  imposed  and  has  continued  those  burdens.  It  pro 
fesses  the  policy  of  reserving  the  public  lands  for  small  holdings 
by  actual  settlers;  it  has  given  away  the  people's  heritage,  till 
now  a  few  railroads  and  non-resident  aliens,  individual  and  cor 
porate,  possess  a  larger  area  than  that  of  all  our  farms  between 
the  two  seas.  It  professes  a  preference  for  free  institutions  ;  it 
organized  and  tried  to  legalize  a  control  of  state  elections  by 
federal  troops.  It  professes  a  desire  to  elevate  labor;  it  subjected 
American  workingmen  to  the  competition  of  convict  and  imported 
contract  labor.  It  professes  gratitude  to  all  who  were  disabled 
or  died  in  the  war,  leaving  widows  or  orphans ;  it  left  to  a 
Democratic  House  of  Representatives  the  first  effort  to  equalize 
both  bounties  and  pensions.  It  professes  a  pledge  to  correct  the 
irregularities  of  our  tariff ;  it  created  and  has  continued  them. 
Its  own  tariff  commission  confessed  the  need  of  more  than  twenty 
per  cent,  reduction ;  its  Congress  gave  a  reduction  of  less  than 
four  per  cent.  It  professes  the  protection  of  American  manu 
factures  ;  it  has  subjected  them  to  an  increasing  flood  of  manu 
factured  goods  and  a  hopeless  competition  with  manufacturing 
nations,  not  one  of  which  taxes  raw  materials.  It  professes  to 
protect  all  American  industries ;  it  has  impoverished  many,  to 
subsidize  a  few.  It  professes  the  protection  of  American  labor  ; 
it  has  depleted  the  returns  of  American  agriculture,  an  industry 
followed  by  half  our  people.  It  professes  the  equality  of  all  men 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         507 

before  the  law,  attempting  to  fix  the  status  of  colored  citizens ; 
the  acts  of  its  Congress  were  overset  by  the  decisions  of  its 
courts.  It  "  accepts  anew  the  duty  of  leading  in  the  work  of 
progress  and  reform  " ;  its  caught  criminals  are  permitted  to 
escape  through  contrived  delays  or  actual  connivance  in  the 
prosecution.  Honeycombed  with  corruption,  outbreaking  ex 
posures  no  longer  shock  its  moral  sense.  Its  honest  members, 
its  independent  journals,  no  longer  maintain  a  successful  con 
test  for  authority  in  its  canvasses  or  a  veto  upon  bad  nominations. 
That  change  is  necessary  is  proved  by  an  existing  surplus  of 
more  than  $100,000,000,  which  has  yearly  been  collected  from 
a  suffering  people.  Unnecessary  taxation  is  unjust  taxation. 
We  denounce  the  Republican  party  for  having  failed  to  relieve 
the  people  from  crushing  war  taxes,  which  have  paralyzed  busi 
ness,  crippled  industry,  and  deprived  labor  of  employment  and 
of  just  reward. 

The  Democracy  pledges  itself  to  purify  the  administration  from 
corruption,  to  restore  economy,  to  revive  respect  for  the  law,  and 
to  reduce  taxation  to  the  lowest  limit  consistent  with  due  regard 
to  the  faith  of  the  nation  to  its  creditors  and  pensioners.  .  .  . 

[Here  follow  the  usual  "  planks  "  in  favor  of  economy, 
honest  money,  equality,  a  free  ballot,  civil-service  reform, 
free  labor,  fair  sales  of  public  lands,  internal  improvements, 
and  a  merchant  marine.] 

With  this  statement  of  the  hopes,  principles,  and  purposes 
of  the  Democratic  party,  the  great  issue  of  reform  and  change 
in  the  administration  is  submitted  to  the  people  in  calm  confi 
dence  that  the  popular  voice  will  announce  in  favor  of  new 
men,  and  new  and  more  favorable  conditions  for  the  growth 
of  industry,  the  extension  of  trade,  the  employment  and  due 
reward  of  labor  and  capital,  and  the  general  welfare  of  the 
whole  country. 

The  week  after  Cleveland's  nomination  at  Chicago  The 
Nation  published  the  following  editorial  appreciation  of 
the  candidate  : 


508      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  Wai 

The  nomination  of  Grover  Cleveland  by  the  Democratic 
Convention  makes  the  way  perfectly  plain  and  simple  for  all 
friends  of  good  government  who  are  for  any  reason  dissatisfied 
with  the  Republican  candidate.  This  time  the  Democrats  have 
made  no  mistake.  If  Cleveland  had  no  other  claim  to  the  confi 
dence  and  support  of  those  to  whom  parties  are  simply  the 
means  of  promoting  the  national  welfare,  he  would  have  a  strong 
one  in  the  character  of  the  opposition  he  encountered  in  the 
Convention.  As  General  Bragg  finely  and  happily  said  in  second 
ing  his  nomination  —  "  We  love  him  most  of  all  for  the  enemies 
he  has  made."  The  hostility  of  Tammany  and  Butler,  and  in 
fact  of  whatever  is  basest  and  most  demagogic  in  his  own  party, 
is  of  itself  a  tribute  of  which  any  public  man  might  well  be  proud. 
But  he  is  by  no  means  dependent  on  this  negative  kind  of 
testimony.  The  enmity  of  corrupt  intriguers  might  mean  after 
all  simply  that  his  intentions  were  good,  and  that  they  merely 
feared  that  he  would,  if  put  in  power,  fail  to  answer  their  pur 
pose.  Cleveland  has  happily  something  far  stronger  than  the 
promise  of  a  strong  character  to  commend  him  to  the  suffrages 
of  good  men  of  all  parties.  He  is  a  tried  administrator.  One  of 
the  Blaine  organs  in  its  great  agony  has  tried  to  relieve  itself  by 
calling  him  "  a  man  destitute  of  experience."  Of  one  kind  of 
experience  —  experience  in  political  trickery  and  manipulation, 
and  in  the  art  of  making  money  for  himself  and  his  friends  out 
of  politics — he  is  indeed  destitute.  But  the  present  extraordinary 
political  crisis  is  due  to  the  profound  and  growing  popular  belief 
that  this  kind  of  experience  is  too  common  among  our  statesmen, 
and  that  the  Republican  candidate  in  particular  is  too  rich  in  it 
either  for  his  own  or  his  country's  good.  Of  the  kind  of  experi 
ence  which  the  present  situation  in  national  affairs  most  impera 
tively  calls  for,  experience  in  administration,  Cleveland  has  more 
than  anyone  who  has  entered  the  White  House  since  1860,  more 
than  any  man  whom  either  party  has  nominated  within  that  pe 
riod,  except  Seymour  and  Tilden —  more  than  Lincoln,  more  than 
Grant,  more  than  Hayes,  more  than  Garfield,  more  than  Arthur. 
He  laid  at  the  start  the  best  of  all  foundations  for  American 
statesmanship  by  becoming  a  good  lawyer.  He  began  his  execu 
tive  career  by  being  a  good  county  sheriff.  He  was  next  intrusted 


Twenty  Years  of  Republican  Supremacy         509 

with  the  administration  of  a  great  city  [Buffalo]  —  as  severe  a 
test  of  a  man's  capacity  in  dealing  with  men  and  affairs  as  any 
American  in  our  time  can  undergo.  In  both  offices  he  gave 
boundless  satisfaction  to  his  fellow-citizens  of  both  parties.  His 
nomination  for  the  Governorship  of  this  State  came  in  due  course, 
and  at  a  crisis  in  State  affairs  which  very  closely  resembled  that 
which  we  are  now  witnessing  in  national  affairs.  His  election  by 
an  unprecedented  majority  is  now  an  old  story.  It  was  the  be 
ginning  of  a  revolution.  It  was  the  first  thorough  fright  the  tricky 
and  jobbing  element  in  politics  ever  received  here.  It  for  the 
first  time  in  the  experience  of  such  politicians  gave  reform  an 
air  of  reality.  But  it  might,  had  Cleveland  proved  a  weak  or 
incompetent  man,  have  turned  out  a  very  bad  blow  for  pure 
politics. 

Luckily,  he  justified  all  the  expectations  and  even  all  the  hopes 
of  those  who  voted  for  him.  No  friend  of  good  government  who, 
in  disregard  of  party  ties,  cast  his  vote  for  him,  has  had  reason 
to  regret  it  for  one  moment.  We  owe  to  his  vigorous  support  a 
large  number  of  reformatory  measures  which  people  in  this  State 
for  forty  years  had  sighed  for  with  little  more  expectation  of 
seeing  them  enacted  than  of  seeing  the  Millennium.  In  other 
words,  he  has  arrested  the  growth  of  political  despair  among 
large  numbers  both  of  young  and  old  voters  in  this  State.  His 
Messages,  too,  have  been  models  of  sound  common  sense  and 
penetrating  sagacity  clothed  in  the  terse  and  vigorous  English 
which  shows  that  there  is  a  man  and  not  a  windy  phrasemonger 
behind  the  pen.  Though  last,  not  least,  his  best  work  has  been 
done  in  utter  disregard  of  the  hostility  of  that  element  in  his  own 
party  which  for  so  many  years  has  been  an  object  of  mingled 
hate  and  fear  to  the  best  part  of  the  American  people.  He  is 
in  truth  a  Democrat  of  the  better  age  of  the  Democratic  party, 
when  it  was  a  party  of  simplicity  and  economy,  and  might  almost 
have  put  its  platform  into  the  golden  rule  of  giving  every  man 
his  due,  minding  your  own  business,  and  asking  nothing  of 
government  but  light  taxes  and  security  in  the  field  and  by 
the  fireside.  No  one  who  has  entered  the  White  House  for 
half  a  century,  except  Lincoln  in  his  second  term,  has  offered 
reformers  such  solid  guarantees  that  as  President  he  will  do 


5  I  o      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

his  own  thinking,  and  be  his  own  master  in  the  things  which 
pertain  to  the  Presidency.  .  .  . 

The  true  question  for  a  voter  to  ask  himself  about  a  Presiden 
tial  candidate,  especially  in  crises  like  the  present,  .  .  .  are,  In  what 
way  will  he  probably  behave  in  the  sphere  of  Presidential  duties  ? 
What  kind  of  nominations  to  office  will  he  send  to  the  Senate  ? 
What  considerations  are  likely  to  prevail  with  him  in  making  re 
movals  ?  What  sort  of  men  are  likely  to  surround  him  and  be 
listened  to  by  him  at  the  White  House  ?  What  is  likely  to  be  his 
attitude  toward  the  moral  and  intellectual  currents  of  the  day, 
and  toward  the  upward  movements  in  American  politics  and 
society  ?  How  does  he  feel  about  money  and  rich  men,  and  about 
the  money-making  enterprises  which  are  the  great  snare  and 
temptation  of  modern  life  ?  Has  he  the  sobriety  of  judgment, 
the  steadiness  of  temper,  the  maturity  of  character  and  the  patient 
deliberativeness  which  high  places  and  great  cares  imperatively 
call  for  ?  Is  he  a  sound  and  prudent  man  of  business,  and  has 
he  a  keen  eye  for  the  remoter  consequences  of  legislation  ?  Will 
he  deal  with  foreign  nations  with  the  quiet  and  manly  self-respect 
which  becomes  the  representative  of  an  industrious  commercial 
people,  among  whom  swashbucklers  and  military  adventurers 
are  despised  or  unknown? 

These  questions  can,  we  believe,  be  answered  as  regards 
Mr.  Cleveland  in  a  way  with  which  every  friend  of  good  govern 
ment  may  be  fully  satisfied,  and  we  commend  him  especially  to 
the  younger  voters  all  over  the  country  who  long  for  a  better 
era  in  politics,  as  a  man  to  be  trusted  and  worked  for.  Even 
those  whose  Republican  traditions  are  most  deeply  rooted  may 
rest  assured  that  they  can  render  no  better  service  to  the  party 
they  have  long  loved  and  supported  than  by  securing  his  triumph. 
For  this  time  a  Democratic  victory  will  arrest  peremptorily,  and, 
we  believe,  finally,  the  insolence  and  hopefulness  of  the  corrupt 
and  freebooting  element  among  Republicans,  which  has  found 
its  final  expression  in  the  Elaine  nomination,  and  has  at  last 
destroyed  that  dream  of  "  reform  within  the  party  "  which  has 
for  so  many  years  sustained  the  patience  of  tens  of  thousands 
of  its  best  members. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  CLEVELAND  DEMOCRACY 

A  PEOPLE'S  PRESIDENT 

There  is  no  more  conspicuous  example  of  President  no.  The 
Cleveland's  courageous  fidelity  to  the  avowed  principles  sagf  of  T 
of  the  Democratic  party  or  of  his  patriotic  indifference  to 
his  own  political  preferment  than  his  third  annual  mes 
sage,  of  December  6,  1887,  devoted  entirely  to  the  dis 
cussion  of  the  reduction  of  the  tariff. 

Washington,  December  6,  1887 

To  THE  CONGRESS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  : 

You  are  confronted  at  the  threshold  of  your  legislative  duties 
with  a  condition  of  the  national  finances  which  imperatively 
demands  immediate  and  careful  consideration. 

The  amount  of  money  annually  exacted,  through  the  oper 
ation  of  present  laws,  from  the  industries  and  necessities  of  the 
people  largely  exceeds  the  sum  necessary  to  meet  the  expenses 
of  the  Government. 

When  we  consider  that  the  theory  of  our  institutions  guaran 
tees  to  every  citizen  the  full  enjoyment  of  all  the  fruits  of  his 
industry  and  enterprise,  with  only  such  deduction  as  may  be  his 
share  toward  the  careful  and  economical  maintenance  of  the 
Government  which  protects  him,  it  is  plain  that  the  exaction  of 
more  than  this  is  indefensible  extortion  and  a  culpable  betrayal 
of  American  fairness  and  justice.  This  wrong,  inflicted  upon 
those  who  bear  the  burden  of  national  taxation,  like  other 
wrongs,  multiplies  a  brood  of  evil  consequences.  The  public 
Treasury,  which  should  only  exist  as  a  conduit  conveying  the 
people's  tribute  to  its  legitimate  objects  of  expenditure,  becomes 

5" 


512       History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

a  hoarding  place  for  money  needlessly  withdrawn  from  trade  and 
the  people's  use,  thus  crippling  our  national  energies,  suspending 
our  country's  development,  preventing  investment  in  productive 
enterprise,  threatening  financial  disturbance,  and  inviting  schemes 
of  public  plunder.  .  .  . 

On  the  30th  day  of  June,  1885,  the  excess  of  revenues 
over  public  expenditures,  after  complying  with  the  annual 
requirements  of  the  sinking-fund  act,  was  $17,859,735.84; 
during  the  year  ending  June  30,  1886,  such  excess  amounted 
to  $49,405,545.20,  and  during  the  year  ending  June  30,  1887, 
it  reached  the  sum  of  $55,567,849.54  .  .  .  the  excess  for  the 
present  year  amounting  on  the  first  day  of  December  to 
$55,258,701.19,  and  estimated  to  reach  the  sum  of  $i  13,000,000 
on  the  3oth  of  June  next,  .  .  .  will  swell  the  surplus  in  the 
Treasury  to  $140,000,000.  .  .  . 

I  have  deemed  it  my  duty  to  thus  bring  to  the  knowledge  of 
my  countrymen,  as  well  as  to  the  attention  of  their  represen 
tatives  charged  with  the  responsibility  of  legislative  relief,  the 
gravity  of  our  financial  situation.  ...  If  disaster  results  from 
the  continued  inaction  of  Congress,  the  responsibility  must  rest 
where  it  belongs.  .  .  . 

Our  scheme  of  taxation,  by  means  of  which  this  needless  sur 
plus  is  taken  from  the  people  and  put  into  the  public  Treasury, 
consists  of  a  tariff  or  duty  levied  upon  importations  from  abroad 
and  internal  revenue  taxes  levied  upon  the  consumption  of  to 
bacco  and  spirituous  and  malt  liquors.  It  must  be  conceded  that 
none  of  the  things  subjected  to  internal  revenue  taxation  are, 
strictly  speaking,  necessaries.  There  appears  to  be  no  just  com 
plaint  of  this  taxation  by  the  consumers  of  these  articles,  and 
there  seems  to  be  nothing  so  well  able  to  bear  the  burden  with 
out  hardship  to  any  portion  of  the  people. 

But  our  present  tariff  laws,  the  vicious,  inequitable,  and 
illogical  source  of  unnecessary  taxation,  ought  to  be  at  once 
revised  and  amended.  These  laws,  as  their  primary  and  plain 
effect,  raise  the  price  to  consumers  of  all  articles  imported  and 
subject  to  duty,  by  precisely  the  sum  paid  for  such  duties.  Thus 
the  amount  of  duty  measures  the  tax  paid  by  those  who  pur 
chase  for  use  those  imported  articles.  Many  of  these  things, 


The  Cleveland  Democracy  513 

however,  are  raised  or  manufactured  in  our  own  country,  and 
the  duties  now  levied  upon  foreign  goods  and  products  are 
called  protection  to  these  home  manufacturers,  because  they 
render  it  possible  for  those  of  our  people  who  are  manufac 
turers  to  make  these  taxed  articles  and  sell  them  for  a  price 
equal  to  that  demanded  for  the  imported  goods  that  have  paid 
customs  duty.  So  it  happens  that  while  comparatively  a  few 
use  the  imported  articles,  millions  of  our  people  .  .  .  purchase 
and  use  things  of  the  same  kind  made  in  this  country,  and  pay 
therefor  nearly  or  quite  the  same  enhanced  price  which  the  duty 
adds  to  the  imported  articles.  .  .  . 

It  is  not  proposed  to  entirely  relieve  the  country  of  this  tax 
ation.  It  must  be  extensively  continued  as  the  source  of  the 
Government's  income ;  and  in  a  readjustment  of  our  tariff  the 
interests  of  American  labor  engaged  in  manufacture  should  be 
carefully  considered,  as  well  as  the  preservation  of  our  manu 
factures.  ...  But  this  existence  should  not  mean  a  condition 
which,  without  regard  to  the  public  welfare,  must  always  insure 
the  realization  of  immense  profits  instead  of  moderately  profit 
able  returns.  As  the  volume  and  diversity  of  our  national  activ 
ities  increase,  new  recruits  are  added  to  those  who  desire  a 
continuation  of  the  advantages  which  they  conceive  the  present 
system  of  tariff  taxation  directly  affords  them.  So  stubbornly 
have  all  efforts  to  reform  the  present  condition  been  resisted  by 
those  of  our  fellow-citizens  thus  engaged  that  they  can  hardly 
complain  of  the  suspicion,  entertained  to  a  certain  extent,  that 
there  exists  an  organized  combination  all  along  the  line  to  main 
tain  their  advantage.  .  .  . 

In  speaking  of  the  increased  cost  to  the  consumer  of  our 
home  manufactures  resulting  from  a  duty  laid  upon  imported 
articles  of  the  same  description,  the  fact  is  not  overlooked  that 
competition  among  our  domestic  producers  sometimes  has  the 
effect  of  keeping  the  price  of  their  products  below  the  highest 
limit  allowed  by  such  duty.  But  it  is  notorious  that  this  com 
petition  is  too  often  strangled  by  combinations  quite  prevalent 
at  this  time,  and  frequently  called  trusts,  which  have  for  their 
object  the  regulation  of  the  supply  and  price  of  commodities 
made  and  sold  by  members  of  the  combination.  The  people 


514      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

can  hardly  hope  for  any  consideration  in  the  operation  of  these 
selfish  schemes. 

If,  however,  in  the  absence  of  such  combination,  a  healthy 
and  free  competition  reduces  the  price  of  any  particular  dutiable 
article  of  home  production  below  the  limit  which  it  might  other 
wise  reach  under  our  tariff  laws,  and  if  with  such  reduced  price 
its  manufacture  continues  to  thrive,  it  is  entirely  evident  that 
one  thing  has  been  discovered  which  should  be  carefully  scruti 
nized  in  an  effort  to  reduce  taxation. 

The  necessity  of  combination  to  maintain  the  price  of  any 
commodity  to  the  tariff  point  furnishes  proof  that  some  one  is 
willing  to  accept  lower  prices  for  such  commodity  and  that  such 
prices  are  remunerative.  The  lower  prices  produced  by  compe 
tition  prove  the  same  thing.  Thus  where  either  of  these  con 
ditions  exists  a  case  would  seem  to  be  presented  for  an  easy 
reduction  of  taxation.  .  .  . 

The  difficulty  attending  a  wise  and  fair  revision  of  our  tariff 
laws  is  not  underestimated.  It  will  require  on  the  part  of  the 
Congress  great  labor  and  care,  and  especially  a  broad  and 
national  contemplation  of  the  subject  and  a  patriotic  disregard 
of  such  local  and  selfish  claims  as  are  unreasonable  and  reckless 
of  the  welfare  of  the  entire  country.  .  .  .  The  taxation  of  luxu 
ries  presents  no  features  of  hardship ;  but  the  necessaries  of 
life  used  and  consumed  by  all  the  people,  the  duty  upon  which 
adds  to  the  cost  of  living  in  every  home,  should  be  greatly 
cheapened.  .  .  . 

Our  progress  toward  a  wise  conclusion  will  not  be  improved 
by  dwelling  upon  the  theories  of  protection  and  free  trade.  This 
savors  too  much  of  bandying  epithets.  It  is  a  condition  which 
confronts  us,  not  a  theory.  The  question  of  free  trade  is 
absolutely  irrelevant,  and  the  persistent  claim  made  in  certain 
quarters  that  all  the  efforts  to  relieve  the  people  from  unjust 
and  unnecessary  taxation  are  schemes  of  so-called  free  traders, 
is  mischievous  and  far  removed  from  any  consideration  for  the 
public  good. 

The  simple  and  plain  duty  which  we  owe  the  people  is  to 
reduce  taxation  to  the  necessary  expenses  of  an  economical 
operation  of  the  Government  and  to  restore  to  the  business  of 


The  Cleveland  Democracy  5J5 

the  country  the  money  which  we  hold  in  the  Treasury  through 
the  possession  of  governmental  powers.  These  things  can  and 
should  be  done  with  safety  to  all  our  industries,  without  danger 
to  the  opportunity  for  remunerative  labor  which  our  workingmen 
need,  and  with  benefit  to  them  and  all  our  people  by  cheapen 
ing  their  means  of  subsistence  and  increasing  the  measure  of 
their  comforts.  .  .  . 

I  am  so  much  impressed  with  the  paramount  importance 
of  the  subject  to  which  this  communication  has  thus  far  been 
devoted  that  I  shall  forego  the  addition  of  any  other  topic,  and 
only  urge  upon  your  immediate  consideration  the  "  state  of  the 
Union  "  as  shown  in  the  present  condition  of  our  Treasury  and 
our  general  fiscal  situation,  upon  which  every  element  of  our 
safety  and  prosperity  depends.  .  .  .  Groyer  cleveland 

Elaine  was  in  Paris  when  Cleveland's  message  appeared. 
He  was  immediately  visited  by  the  London  correspondent 
of  the  New  York  Tribune  and  dictated  the  following  in 
terview,  which  was  cabled  to  America  and  published  in  the 
Tribune  of  December  8,  1887.  It  is  often  called  "  Elaine's 
Paris  Message." 

"  I  have  been  reading  an  abstract  of  the  President's  mes 
sage,  and  have  been  especially  interested  in  the  comments  of  the 
London  papers.  Those  papers  all  assume  to  declare  the  mes 
sage  is  a  free  trade  manifesto  and  evidently  are  anticipating  an 
enlarged  market  for  English  fabrics  in  the  United  States  as  a 
consequence  of  the  President's  recommendations.  Perhaps  that 
fact  stamped  the  character  of  the  message  more  clearly  than 
any  words  of  mine  can." 

"  You  don't  mean  actual  free  trade  without  duty  ?  "  queried 
the  reporter. 

"No,"  replied  Mr.  Elaine,  "  nor  do  the  London  papers  mean 
that.  They  simply  mean  that  the  President  has  recommended 
what  in  the  United  States  is  known  as  a  revenue  tariff,  rejecting 
the  protective  features  as  an  object,  and  not  even  permitting 
protection  to  result  freely  as  an  incident  to  revenue  duties.  .  .  . 


5  1 6      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

I  mean  that  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  United  States 
the  President  recommends  retaining  the  internal  tax  in  order 
that  the  tariff  may  be  forced  down  even  below  the  fair  revenue 
standard/'  .  .  . 

"  Do  you  think  if  the  President's  recommendations  were 
adopted  it  would  increase  our  export  trade  ? " 

"  Possibly  in  some  few  articles  of  peculiar  construction  it  might, 
but  it  would  increase  our  import  trade  ten-fold  as  much  in  the 
great  staple  fabrics,  in  woolen  and  cotton  goods,  in  iron,  in 
steel,  in  all  the  thousand  and  one  shapes  in  which  they  are 
wrought.  How  are  we  to  export  staple  fabrics  to  the  markets 
of  Europe  unless  we  make  them  cheaper  than  they  do  in  Eu 
rope,  and  how  are  we  to  manufacture  them  cheaper  than  they 
do  in  Europe  unless  we  get  cheaper  labor  than  they  have  in 
Europe  ? " 

"  Then  you  think  that  the  question  of  labor  underlies  the 
whole  subject  ? " 

"  Of  course  it  does.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  entire  question.  When 
ever  we  can  force  carpenters,  masons,  ironworkers  and  mechanics 
in  every  department  to  work  as  cheaply  and  live  as  poorly  in  the 
United  States  as  similar  workmen  in  Europe,  we  can,  of  course, 
manufacture  as  cheaply  as  they  do  in  England  and  France. 
But  I  am  totally  opposed  to  -a  policy  that  would  entail  such 
results.  To  attempt  it  is  equivalent  to  a  social  and  financial 
revolution,  one  that  would  bring  untold  distress." 

"  Yes,  but  might  not  the  great  farming  class  be  benefited  by 
importing  articles  from  Europe  instead  of  buying  them  at  higher 
prices  at  home  ?  " 

"  The  moment,"  answered  Mr.  Elaine,  "  you  begin  to  import 
freely  from  Europe  you  drive  our  own  workmen  from  mechan 
ical  and  manufacturing  pursuits.  In  the  same  proportion  they 
become  tillers  of  the  soil,  increasing  steadily  the  agricultural 
product  and  decreasing  steadily  the  large  home  demand  which 
is  constantly  enlarging  as  home  manufactures  enlarge.  That,  of 
course,  works  great  injury  to  the  farmer,  glutting  the  market 
with  his  products  and  tending  constantly  to  lower  prices." 

"  Yes,  but  the  foreign  demand  for  farm  products  would  be 
increased  in  like  ratio,  would  it  not  ? " 


The  Cleveland  Democracy  5 1 7 

"  Even  suppose  it  were,"  said  Mr.  Elaine,  "  how  do  you  know 
the  source  from  which  it  will  be  supplied  ?  The  tendency  in 
Russia  today  and  in  the  Asiatic  possessions  of  England  is  toward 
a  large  increase  of  the  grain  supply,  the  grain  being  raised  by  the 
cheapest  possible  labor.  Manufacturing  countries  will  buy  their 
breadstuffs  where  they  can  get  them  cheapest,  and  the  enlarg 
ing  of  the  home  market  for  the  American  farmer  being  checked, 
he  would  search  in  vain  for  one  of  the  same  value.  His  foreign 
sales  are  already  checked  by  the  great  competition  abroad.  There 
never  was  a  time  when  the  increase  of  a  large  home  market  was 
so  valuable  to  him.  The  best  proof  is  that  the  farmers  are  pros 
perous  in  proportion  to  the  nearness  of  manufacturing  centers, 
and  a  protective  tariff  tends  to  spread  manufactures."  .  .  . 

"  But  what  about  the  existing  surplus  ? " 

"  The  abstract  of  the  message  I  have  seen,"  replied  Mr.  Elaine, 
"  contains  no  reference  to  that  point.  I  therefore  make  no  com 
ment  further  than  to  endorse  Mr.  Fred.  Grant's  remark  that  a 
surplus  is  always  much  easier  to  handle  than  a  deficit.  .  .  . 

"  The  President's  recommendation  enacted  into  a  law  would 
result  as  did  an  experiment  in  draining  of  a  man  who  wished 
to  turn  a  swamp  into  a  productive  field.  He  dug  a  drain  to  a 
neighboring  river,  but  it  happened,  unfortunately,  that  the  level 
of  the  river  was  higher  than  the  level  of  the  swamp.  The  con 
sequence  need  not  be  told.  A  parallel  would  be  found  when 
the  President's  policy  in  attempting  to  open  a  channel  for  an 
increase  of  exports  should  simply  succeed  in  making  way  for  a 
deluging  inflow  of  fabrics  to  the  destruction  of  home  industry. 
...  It  is  not  our  foreign  trade  that  has  caused  the  wonderful 
growth  and  expansion  of  the  Republic.  It  is  the  vast  domestic 
trade  between  thirty-eight  States  and  eight  Territories,  with 
their  population  of  perhaps  62,000,000  today.  The  whole 
amount  of  our  export  and  import  trade  together  has  never, 
I  think,  reached  $1,900,000,000  in  any  one  year.  Our  in 
ternal  home  trade  on  130,000  miles  of  railroad,  along  15,000 
miles  of  ocean  coast,  over  the  five  great  lakes,  and  along 
20,000  miles  of  navigable  rivers,  reaches  the  enormous  annual 
aggregate  of  more  than  $40,000,000,000,  and  perhaps  this 
year  $50,000,000,000. 


5 1 8      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

"  It  is  into  this  illimitable  trade,  even  now  in  its  infancy,  and 
destined  to  attain  a  magnitude  not  dreamed  of  twenty  years  ago, 
that  the  Europeans  are  struggling  to  enter.  It  is  the  heritage 
of  the  American  people,  of  their  children  and  of  their  children's 
children.  It  gives  an  absolutely  free  trade  over  a  territory  nearly 
as  large  as  all  Europe,  and  the  profit  is  all  our  own.  .  .  .  Presi 
dent  Cleveland  now  plainly  proposes  a  policy  that  will  admit 
Europe  to  a  share  in  this  trade." 

"  What  must  be  the  marked  and  general  effect  of  the  Presi 
dent's  message  ? " 

"  It  will  bring  the  country  where  it  ought  to  be  brought — to 
a  full  and  fair  contest  on  the  question  of  protection.  The  Presi 
dent  himself  makes  it  the  one  issue  by  presenting  no  other  in 
his  message.  I  think  it  well  to  have  the  question  settled.  The 
Democratic  party  in  power  is  a  standing  menace  to  the  indus 
trial  prosperity  of  the  country.  That  menace  should  be  removed 
or  the  policy  it  foreshadows  should  be  made  certain.  Nothing  is 
so  mischievous  to  business  as  uncertainty,  nothing  so  paralyzing 
as  doubt." 

A   BlLLION-DOLLAR   COUNTRY 

in.  The  The  most  distinguished  citizen  of  the  South  in  the  gen 

eration  following  the  Civil  War  wns  Henry  W.  Grady  of 
Atlanta,  Georgia.  Gifted  with  rare  oratorical  power,  con 
structive  statesmanship,  and  generous  sympathies,  he 
devoted  his  great  talents  to  the  encouragement  of  the 
South  in  the  development  of  its  material  resources  and 
the  cultivation  of  a  broad  national  spirit.  "  He  was  the 
leader  of  the  New  South,  and  died  in  the  great  work  of 
impressing  its  marvellous  growth  and  national  aspirations 
upon  the  willing  ear  of  the  North."  1  He  also  impressed 

1  Remark  of  Chauncey  M.  Depew  at  a  dinner  of  the  New  England 
Society  of  New  York,  December  23,  1889,  on  the  reception  of  a  tele 
gram  announcing  the  death  of  Grady.  The  reference  in  Depew's  re 
mark  is  to  a  visit  made  to  Boston  by  Grady,  only  a  few  days  before 
his  death,  to  address  the  Merchants'  Association  —  a  visit  in  which  he 


The  Cleveland  Democracy  519 

these  ideas  on  the  minds  of  the  South,  most  eloquently, 
perhaps,  in  a  speech  at  a  state  fair  at  Dallas,  Texas, 
October  26,  1887,  from  which  the  following  passages 
are  taken  : 

What  of  the  South's  industrial  problem  ?  There  is  a  figure 
with  which  history  has  dealt  lightly,  but  that,  standing  pathetic 
and  heroic  in  the  genesis  of  our  new  growth,  has  interested  me 
greatly  —  our  soldier  farmer  of  '65.  What  chance  had  he  for 
the  future  as  he  wandered  amid  his  empty  barns,  his  stock, 
labor,  and  implements  gone  —  gathered  up  the  fragments  of  his 
wreck  —  urging  kindly  his  borrowed  mule  —  paying  sixty  per 
cent,  for  all  that  he  bought,  and  buying  all  on  credit  —  his  crop 
mortgaged  before  it  was  planted — his  children  in  want,  his 
neighborhood  in  chaos  —  working  under  new  conditions  and 
retrieving  every  error  by  a  costly  year  —  plodding  all  day  down 
the  furrow,  hopeless  and  adrift,  save  when  at  night  he  went 
back  to  his  broken  home,  where  his  wife,  cheerful  even  then, 
renewed  his  courage,  while  she  ministered  to  him  in  loving  ten 
derness.  Who  would  have  thought  .  .  .  that  he  would  in  twenty 
years,  having  carried  these  burdens  uncomplainingly,  make  a 
crop  of  $800,000,000  ?  Yet  this  he  has  done,  and  from  his 
bounty  the  South  has  rebuilded  her  cities,  and  recouped  -her 
losses.  While  we  exult  in  his  splendid  achievement,  let  us  take 
account  of  his  standing.  .  .  . 

With  amazing  rapidity  [the  South]  has  moved  away  from  the 
one  crop  idea  that  was  once  her  curse.  In  1880  she  was 
esteemed  prosperous.  Since  that  time  she  has  added  393,000,- 
ooo  bushels  to  her  grain  crops,  and  182,000,000  head  to  her 
live  stock.  This  has  not  lost  one  bale  of  her  cotton  crop,  which, 
on  the  contrary,  has  increased  nearly  200,000  bales.  With 
equal  swiftness  she  has  moved  away  from  the  folly  of  shipping 
out  her  ore  at  $2  a  ton  and  buying  it  back  in  implements  from 
$20  to  $100  per  ton;  her  cotton  at  10  cents  a  pound,  and 

contracted  a  fatal  case  of  pneumonia.  "  New  York  mingles  her  tears  with 
those  of  his  kindred,"  continued  Depew,  "  and  offers  to  his  memory  a 
tribute  of  her  profoundest  admiration."  —  J.  C.  Harris,  The  Life  of 
Henry  W.  Grady,  p.  624. 


5  2O      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

buying  it  back  in  cloth  at  20  to  80  cents  per  pound ;  her  timber 
at  $8  per  thousand  [feet]  and  buying  it  back  in  furniture  at  ten 
to  twenty  times  as  much.  In  the  past  eight  years  $250,000,000 
have  been  invested  in  new  shops  and  factories  in  her  States ; 
225,000  are  now  working  who  eight  years  ago  were  idle  or 
worked  elsewhere,  and  these  added  $227,000,000  to  the  value 
of  her  raw  material  —  more  than  half  the  value  of  her  cotton. 
Add  to  this  the  value  of  her  increased  grain  crops  and  stock, 
and  in  the  past  eight  years  she  has  grown  in  her  fields  or  created 
in  her  shops  manufactures  more  than  the  value  of  her  cotton 
crop.  The  incoming  tide  has  begun  to  rise.  Every  train  brings 
manufacturers  from  the  East  and  West  seeking  to  establish 
themselves  or  their  sons  near  the  raw  material  and  in  this 
growing  market.  Let  the  fullness  of  the  tide  roll  in. 

It  will  not  exhaust  our  materials,  nor  shall  we  glut  our 
markets.  When  the  growing  demand  of  our  Southern  market, 
feeding  on  its  own  growth,  is  met,  we  shall  find  new  markets 
for  the  South.  We  buy  from  Brazil  $50,000,000  worth  of 
goods,  and  sell  her  $8,500,000.  England  buys  on  $29,000,000, 
and  sells  her  $35,000,000.  Of  $65,000,000  in  cotton  goods 
bought  by  Central  and  South  America,  over  $50,000,000  went 
to  England.  Of  $331,000,000  sent  abroad  by  the  southern  half 
of  our  hemisphere,  England  secures  over  half,  although  we  buy 
from  that  section  nearly  twice  as  much  as  England.  Our  neigh 
bors  to  the  south  need  every  article  we  make ;  we  need  nearly 
everything  they  produce.  Less  than  2,500  miles  of  road  must 
be  built  to  bind  by  rail  the  two  American  continents.  When  this 
is  done,  and  even  before,  we  shall  find  exhaustless  markets  to 
the  South.  .  .  . 

The  South,  under  the  rapid  diversification  of  crops  and  diver 
sification  of  industries,  is  thrilling  with  new  life.  As  this  new 
prosperity  comes  to  us,  it  will  bring  no  sweeter  thought  to  me, 
and  to  you,  my  countrymen,  I  am  sure,  than  that  it  adds  not 
only  to  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  our  neighbors,  but  that  it 
makes  broader  the  glory  and  deeper  the  majesty,  and  more 
enduring  the  strength,  of  the  Union  which  reigns  supreme  in 
our  hearts.  In  this  republic  of  ours  is  lodged  the  hope  of  free 
government  on  earth.  .  .  .  Let  us  —  once  estranged  and  thereby 


TJie  Cleveland  Democracy  521 

closer  bound  —  let  us  soar  above  all  provincial  pride  and  find 
our  deeper  inspirations  in  gathering  the  fullest  sheaves  into  the 
harvest  and  standing  the  staunchest  and  most  devoted  of  its 
sons  as  it  lights  the  path  and  makes  clear  the  way  through 
which  all  the  people  of  this  earth  shall  come  in  God's  appointed 
time.  .  .  . 

The  South  needs  her  sons  today  more  than  when  she  sum 
moned  them  to  the  forum  to  maintain  her  political  supremacy, 
more  than  when  the  bugle  called  them  to  the  field  to  defend 
issues  put  to  the  arbitrament  of  the  sword.  Her  old  body  is 
instinct  with  appeal  calling  on  us  to  come  and  give  her  fuller  inde 
pendence  than  she  has  ever  sought  in  field  or  forum.  It  is  ours 
to  show  that  as  she  prospered  with  slaves,  she  shall  prosper  still 
more  with  freemen ;  ours  to  see  that  from  the  lists  she  entered 
in  poverty  she  shall  emerge  in  prosperity ;  ours  to  carry  the 
transcending  traditions  of  the  old  South  from  which  none  of  us 
can  in  honor  or  in  reverence  depart,  unstained  and  unbroken 
into  the  new.  Shall  we  fail  ?  Shall  the  blood  of  the  old  South 
—  the  best  strain  that  ever  uplifted  human  endeavor  —  that  ran 
like  water  at  duty's  call  and  never  stained  where  it  touched  — 
shall  this  blood  that  pours  into  our  veins  through  a  century 
luminous  with  achievement,  for  the  first  time  falter  and  be 
driven  back  from  irresolute  heat,  when  the  old  South,  that  left 
us  a  better  heritage  in  manliness  and  courage  than  in  broad 
and  rich  acres,  calls  us  to  settle  problems  ?  .  .  . 

I  see  a  South,  the  home  of  fifty  millions  of  people,  who  rise 
up  every  day  to  call  from  blessed  cities,  vast  hives  of  industry 
and  of  thrift;  her  countrysides  the  treasures  from  which  their 
resources  are  drawn  ;  her  streams  vocal  with  whirring  spindles  ; 
her  valleys  tranquil  in  the  white  and  gold  of  the  harvest ;  her 
mountains  showering  down  the  music  of  bells,  as  her  slow- 
moving  flocks  and  herds  go  forth  from  their  folds ;  her  rulers 
honest  and  her  people  loving,  and  her  homes  happy  and  their 
hearthstones  bright,  and  their  waters  still,  and  their  pastures 
green,  and  her  conscience  clear;  her  wealth  diffused  and  poor 
houses  empty.  .  .  .  Peace  and  sobriety  walking  hand  in  hand 
through  her  borders ;  honor  in  her  homes ;  uprightness  in  her 
midst ;  plenty  in  her  fields ;  straight  and  simple  faith  in  the 


522       History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

hearts  of  her  sons  and  daughters;  her  two  races  walking  to 
gether  in  peace  and  contentment ;  sunshine  everywhere  and  all 
the  time,  and  night  falling  on  her  generally  as  from  the  wings 
of  the  unseen  dove. 

112.  The  The  New   York   Times  of  Sunday,  March  31,    1889, 

at  Samoa,      published  the  following  dispatch  from  Rear  Admiral  Kim- 
March  15-16,  berley  in  Samoa,  sent  via  Aukland  and  London  : 

[434]  Hurricane  at  Apia,  March  15.    Every  vessel  in  harbor  on 

shore  except  English  man-of-war  Calliope  which  got  to  sea. 
Trenton  and  Vandalia  total  losses.  Nipsic  beached;  rudder 
gone ;  may  be  saved ;  chances  against  it.  ...  Vandalia  lost 
four  officers  and  thirty-nine  men ;  Nipsic  lost  seven  men ;  all 
saved  from  Trenton.  .  .  .  German  losses  ninety-six.  Important 
to  send  three  hundred  men  home  at  once.  Shall  I  charter 
steamer?  Can  charter  in  Aukland.  .  .  .  Fuller  accounts  by 

mail  Kimberly 

Three  years  later  this  terrible  calamity  was  described  by 
the  greatest  living  writer  of  narrative  prose,  Robert  Louis 
Stevenson,  in  his  "  Eight  Years  of  Trouble  in  Samoa." 

By  the  second  week  in  March,  three  American  ships  were  in 
Apia  bay  —  the  Nipsic,  the  Vandalia,  and  the  Trenton,  carrying 
the  flag  of  Rear-Admiral  Kimberley ;  three  German — the  Adler, 
the  Eber,  and  the  Olga ;  and  one  British,  —  the  Calliope,  Captain 
Kane.  Six  merchantmen,  ranging  from  twenty-five  up  to  five 
hundred  tons,  and  a  number  of  small  craft,  further  encumbered 
the  anchorage.  ...  In  this  overcrowding  of  ships  in  an  open 
entry  of  the  reef,  even  the  eye  of  a  landsman  could  spy  danger ; 
and  Captain-Lieutenant  Wallis  of  the  Eber  openly  blamed  and 
lamented,  not  many  hours  before  the  catastrophe,  their  helpless 
posture.  Temper  once  more  triumphed.  The  army  of  Mataafa 
still  hung  immanent  behind  the  town  ;  the  German  quarter  was 
still  daily  garrisoned  with  fifty  sailors  from  the  squadron ;  what 
was  yet  more  influential,  Germany  and  the  [United]  States,  at 
least  in  Apia  bay,  were  on  the  brink  of  war,  viewed  each  other 


The  Cleveland  Democracy  523 

with  looks  of  hatred,  and  scarce  observed  the  letter  of  civility. 
On  the  day  of  the  admiral's  arrival,  Knapp  [the  German  consul 
in  Samoa]  failed  to  call  on  him,  and  on  the  morrow  called  on 
him  while  he  was  on  shore.  The  slight  was  remarked  and 
resented,  and  the  two  squadrons  clung  the  more  obstinately  to 
their  dangerous  station. 

On  the  i5th  the  barometer  fell  to  29°. n  by  2P.M.  This 
was  a  moment  when  every  sail  in  port  should  have  escaped. 
Kimberley,  who  flew  the  only  broad  pennant,  should  certainly 
have  led  the  way ;  he  clung,  instead,  to  his  moorings,  and  the 
Germans  doggedly  followed  his  example:  semibelligerents,  daring 
each  other  and  the  violence  of  heaven.  .  .  .  The  night  closed 
black,  with  sheets  of  rain.  By  midnight  it  blew  a  gale ;  and  by 
the  morning  watch,  a  tempest.  .  .  . 

Day  came  about  six,  and  presented  to  those  on  shore  a  seiz 
ing  and  terrific  spectacle.  In  the  pressure  of  the  squalls,  the 
bay  was  obscured  as  if  by  midnight,  but  between  them  a  great 
part  of  it  was  clearly  if  darkly  visible  amid  driving  mist  and 
rain.  The  wind  blew  into  the  harbor  mouth.  .  .  .  Seas  that 
might  have  awakened  surprise  and  terror  in  the  midst  of  the 
Atlantic,  ranged  bodily  and  (it  seemed  to  observers)  almost 
without  diminution  into  the  belly  of  that  flask-shaped  harbor; 
and  the  war  ships  were  alternately  buried  from  view  in  the 
trough,  or  seen  standing  on  end  against  the  breast  of  billows. 

The  Trenton  at  daylight  still  maintained  her  position  in  the 
neck  of  the  bottle.  But  five  of  the  remaining  ships  tossed, 
already  close  to  the  bottom,  in  a  perilous  and  helpless  crowd ; 
threating  to  ruin  each  other  as  they  tossed ;  threatened  with  a 
common  and  imminent  destruction  on  the  reefs.  Three  had 
been  already  in  collision ;  the  Olga  was  injured  in  the  quarter ; 
the  Adler  had  lost  her  bowsprit ;  the  Nipsic  had  lost  her  smoke 
stack,  and  was  making  steam  with  difficulty,  maintaining  her 
fire  with  barrels  of  pork,  and  the  smoke  and  sparks  pouring 
along  the  level  of  the  deck.  .  .  .  The  Eber  had  dragged  anchors 
with  the  rest;  her  injured  screw  disabled  her  from  steaming 
vigorously  up ;  and  a  little  before  day,  she  had  struck  the  front 
of  the  coral,  come  off,  struck  again,  and  gone  down  stem  fore 
most,  oversetting  as  she  went,  into  the  gaping  hollow  of  the 


524      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

reef.  Of  her  whole  complement  of  nearly  eighty,  four  souls 
were  cast  alive  on  the  beach ;  and  the  bodies  of  the  remainder 
were,  by  the  voluminous  outpouring  of  the  flooded  streams, 
scoured  at  last  from  the  harbor,  and  strewed  naked  on  the 
seaboard  of  the  island.  .  .  . 

Three  ships  still  hung  on  the  next  margin  of  destruction, 
steaming  desperately  to  their  moorings,  dashed  helplessly  to 
gether.  The  Calliope  was  the  nearest  in ;  she  had  the  Vandalia 
close  on  her  port  side  and  a  little  ahead,  the  Olga  close  a-star- 
board,  the  reef  under  her  keel ;  and  steaming  and  veering  on 
her  cables,  the  unhappy  ship  fenced  with  her  three  dangers.  .  .  . 
The  one  possibility  of  escape  was  to  go  out.  If  the  engines 
should  stand,  if  they  should  have  power  to  drive  the  ship  against 
wind  and  sea,  if  she  should  answer  the  helm,  if  the  wheel, 
rudder,  and  gear  should  hold  out,  and  if  they  were  favored  with 
a  clear  blink  of  weather  in  which  to  see  and  avoid  the  outer 
reef  —  there,  and  there  only,  were  safety.  Upon  this  catalogue 
of  "  ifs  "  Kane  staked  his  all.  He  signalled  to  the  engineer  for 
every  pound  of  steam  —  and  at  that  moment  (I  am  told)  much 
of  the  machinery  was  already  red  hot.  .  .  .  For  a  time  the  Cal 
liope  lay  stationary ;  then  gradually  drew  ahead.  The  highest 
speed  claimed  for  her  that  day  is  of  one  sea-mile  an  hour.  .  .  . 
As  she  thus  crept  seaward,  she  buried  bow  and  stern  alternately 
under  the  billows. 

In  the  fairway  of  the  entrance,  the  flagship  Trenton  still  held 
on.  Her  rudder  was  broken,  her  wheel  carried  away ;  within 
she  was  flooded.  .  .  .  She  had  just  made  the  signal  "  fires  ex 
tinguished,"  and  lay  helpless,  awaiting  the  inevitable  end.  Be 
tween  this  melancholy  hulk  and  the  external  reef,  Kane  must 
find  a  path.  Steering  within  fifty  yards  of  the  reef  .  .  .  and  her 
foreyard  passing  on  the  other  hand  over  the  Trenton's  quarter  as 
she  rolled,  the  Calliope  sheered  between  the  rival  dangers,  came 
to  the  wind  triumphantly,  and  was  once  more  pointed  for  the 
sea  and  safety.  Not  often  in  naval  history  was  there  a  moment 
of  more  sickening  peril,  and  it  was  dignified  by  one  of  those  in 
cidents  that  reconcile  the  chronicler  with  his  otherwise  abhorrent 
task.  From  the  doomed  flagship,  the. Americans  hailed  the  suc 
cess  of  the  English  with  a  cheer.  It  was  led  by  the  old  Admiral 


The  Cleveland  Democracy  525 

in  person,  rang  out  over  the  storm  with  a  holiday  vigor,  and  was 
answered  by  the  Calliopes  with  an  emotion  easily  conceived. 
The  ship  of  their  kinsfolk  was  almost  the  last  external  object 
seen  from  the  Calliope  for  hours ;  immediately  after,  the  mists 
closed  about  her  till  the  morrow.  She  was  safe  at  sea  again  - 
una  de  multis.  .  .  . 

The  morning  of  the  17th  displayed  a  scene  of  devastation 
rarely  equalled ;  the  Adkr  high  and  dry,  the  Olga  and  Nipsic 
beached,  the  Trenton  partly  piled  on  the  Vandalia  and  herself 
sunk  to  the  gun-deck;  no  sail  afloat;  and  the  beach  heaped 
high  with  the  debris  of  ships  and  the  wreck  of  mountain  forests. 
.  .  .  Thus,  in  what  seemed  the  very  article  of  war,  and  within 
the  duration  of  a  single  day,  the  sword  arm  of  each  of  the  two 
angry  powers  was  broken ;  their  formidable  ships  reduced  to 
junk ;  their  disciplined  hundreds  to  a  horde  of  castaways,  fed 
with  difficulty,  and  the  fear  of  whose  misconduct  marred  the 
sleep  of  their  commanders.  Both  paused  aghast ;  both  had  time 
to  recognize  that  not  the  whole  Samoan  Archipelago  was  worth 
the  loss  in  men  and  costly  ships  already  suffered.  The  so-called 
hurricane  of  March  16  made  thus  a  marking  epoch  in  world- 
history  ;  directly,  and  at  once,  it  brought  about  the  congress  and 
treaty  of  Berlin  ; x  indirectly,  and  by  a  process  still  continuing,  it 
founded  the  modern  navy  of  the  [United]  States.  Coming  years 
and  other  historians  will  declare  the  influence  of  that. 

Although  the  "formidable"  and  "costly"  ships  wrecked 
at  Apia  were  only  unarmored  cruisers  of  from  1375  to 
3900  tons,  their  loss  was  sufficient  to  cripple  our  navy. 
Under  the  title  "  The  Naval  Catastrophe  "  an  editorial  in 
the  New  York  Times  of  March  31,  1889,  said  : 

Another  lesson  which  the  Americans  may  well  take  to  heart 
is  the  duty  of  increasing  their  navy  with  all  possible  dispatch. 

1  For  the  congress  see  Muzzey,  An  American  History,  p.  434.  The 
tripartite  government  lasted  through  ten  stormy  years,  until,  in  Decem 
ber,  1899,  the  British  withdrew  entirely  from  Samoa  and  left  Germany 
and  the  United  States  to  divide  the  islands.  We  took  the  island  of  Tu- 
tuila,  which  contained  Pango-Pango,  the  best  harbor  in  the  archipelago. 


526      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

The  Germans  can  replace  their  shattered  ships  without  great 
exertion  and  with  comparatively  little  delay.  .  .  .  The  United 
States  will  have  great  difficulty  in  recruiting  its  naval  forces 
in  Apia  and  taking  off  the  shipwrecked  crews.  At  Panama  a 
vessel  cannot  be  spared :  at  San  Francisco  there  is  not  a  ship 
available  for  the  service.  There  are  three  antiquated  vessels  in 
the  Asiatic  squadron,  one  new  dispatch  boat,  the  Dolphin,  and  the 
Palos,  which  is  hardly  better  than  a  tow-boat.  In  this  emergency 
the  only  resource  is  to  send  some  of  these  venerable  relics  from 
China  to  Hawaii,  and  leave  those  important  stations  bare.  Such  a 
situation  is  humiliating  to  American  pride.  The  movement  for 
providing  the  country  with  a  well-equipped  modern  navy  ought 
to  receive  a  powerful  impulse  from  the  Samoan  catastrophe. 

PROBLEMS  OF  CLEVELAND'S  SECOND  TERM 

The  most  serious  industrial  struggle  in  the  history  of 
our  country,  and  the  only  one  in  which  the  troops  of  the 
United  States  have  been  called  upon  to  fire  on  United 
States  citizens,  was  the  great  railroad  strike  in  Chicago  in 
1894,  arising  out  of  the  conflict  over  wages  in  the  Pull 
man  Palace  Car  Company.  On  the  day  set  by  the  Amer 
ican  Railway  Union  for  refusing  to  handle  trains  to  which 
Pullman  cars  were  attached,  unless  the  Pullman  Company 
agreed  to  arbitration  with  its  employees1  (June  26,  1894), 
the  following  statement  of  its  position  was  published  by 
the  company  in  the  Chicago  Herald'. 

1  On  July  26,  1894,  President  Cleveland  appointed  a  commission  of 
three  men  to  investigate  the  causes  of  the  strike.  In  his  testimony  be 
fore  the  commission  George  M.  Pullman,  president  of  the  company, 
said:  "  Of  course  there  are  matters  which  are  proper  subjects  of  arbitra 
tion  . . .  but  as  to  whether  a  fact  which  I  know  to  be  true,  is  true  or  not, 
I  could  not  agree  to  submit  to  arbitration.  The  question  as  to  whether 
the  shops  at  Pullman  should  be  continuously  operated  at  a  loss  or  not, 
is  one  which  it  was  impossible  for  the  company,  as  a  matter  of  princi 
ple,  to  submit  to  the  opinion  of  any  third  party."  —  W.  J.  Ashley,  The 
Railroad  Strike  of  1894,  p.  3.  Cambridge,  1895. 


The  Cleveland  Democracy  527 

In  view  of  the  proposed  attempt  of  the  American  Railway 
Union  to  interfere  with  public  travel  on  railway  lines  using 
Pullman  cars,  in  consequence  of  a  controversy  as  to  the  wages 
of  employes  of  the  manufacturing  department  of  the  company, 
the  Pullman  company  requests  the  publication  of  the  following 
statement  of  the  facts,  in  the  face  of  which  the  attempt  is  to 
be  made. 

In  the  first  week  of  May  last,  there  were  employed  in  the 
car  manufacturing  department  at  Pullman,  111.,  about  3100 
persons.  On  May  yth  a  committee  of  the  workmen  had  an 
interview  by  arrangement  with  Mr.  Wickes,  vice-president,  at 
which  the  principal  subject  of  discussion  related  to  wages.  .  .  . 
The  absolute  necessity  of  the  last  reduction  in  wages,  under 
the  existing  condition  of  the  business  of  car  manufacturing, 
had  been  explained  to  the  committee,  and  they  were  insisting 
upon  a  restoration  of  the  wage  scale  of  the  first  half  of  1893, 
when  Mr.  Pullman  entered  the  room  and  addressed  the  com 
mittee,  speaking  in  substance  as  follows  : 

At  the  commencement  of  the  very  serious  depression  last  year 
we  were  employing  at  Pullman  5816  men,  and  paying  out  in  wages 
there  $305,000  a  month.  Negotiations  with  intending  purchasers  of 
railway  equipment  that  were  then  pending  for  new  work  were  stopped 
by  them,  orders  already  given  by  others  were  canceled,  and  we  were 
obliged  to  lay  off,  as  you  are  aware,  a  large  number  of  men  in  every 
department,  so  that  by  November  I,  1893,  there  were  only  about 
2000  men  in  all  departments.  ...  I  realized  the  necessity  for  the 
most  strenuous  exertions  to  procure  work  immediately  .  .  .  and,  with 
lower  prices  upon  all  materials,  I  personally  undertook  the  work  of 
the  lettings  of  cars,  and  by  making  lower  bids  than  other  manufac 
turers,  I  secured  work  enough  to  gradually  increase  our  force  from 
2000  up  to  about  4200,  the  number  employed,  according  to  the  April 
pay-rolls,  in  all  capacities  at  Pullman. 

This  result  has  not  been  accomplished  merely  by  reduction  in 
wages,  but  the  company  has  borne  its  full  share  by  eliminating  from 
its  estimates  the  use  of  capital  and  machinery,  and  in  many  cases 
going  even  below  that  and  taking  work  at  considerable  loss,  notably 
the  fifty -five  Long  Island  cars,  which  was  the  first  large  order  of 
passenger  cars  let  since  the  great. depression,  and  which  was  sought 
for  by  practically  all  the  leading  car-builders  in  the  country.  My 


528       History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

anxiety  to  secure  that  order,  so  as  to  put  as  many  men  at  work  as 
possible,  was  such  that  I  put  in  a  bid  at  more  than  $300  per  car  less 
than  the  actual  cost  to  the  company.  The  three  hundred  stock  cars 
built  for  the  Northwestern  Road  and  the  two  hundred  and  fifty 
refrigerator  cars  now  under  construction  for  the  same  company,  will 
result  in  a  loss  of  at  least  #12  per  car,  and  the  twenty-five  cars  just 
built  for  the  Lake  Street  Elevated  Road  show  a  loss  of  $79  per  car. 
I  mention  these  particulars  so  that  you  may  understand  what  the 
company  has  done  for  the  mutual  interest  and  to  secure  for  the  people 
at  Pullman  and  vicinity  the  benefit  of  the  disbursement  of  the  large 
sums  of  money  involved  in  these  and  similar  contracts.  ...  I  can 
only  assure  you  that  if  this  company  now  restores  the  wages  of  the 
first  half  of  1893,  as  you  have  asked,  it  would  be  a  most  unfortunate 
thing  for  the  men,  because  there  is  less  than  sixty  days  of  contract 
work  in  sight  in  the  shops  under  all  orders,  and  there  is  absolutely 
no  possibility,  in  the  present  condition  of  affairs  throughout  the  coun 
try,  of  getting  any  more  orders  for  work  at  prices  measured  by  the 
wages  of  May,  1893.  Under  such  a  scale  the  works  would  necessa 
rily  close  down  and  the  great  majority  of  the  employes  be  put  in 
idleness,  a  contingency  I  am  using  my  best  efforts  to  avoid. 

To  further  benefit  the  people  of  Pullman  and  vicinity,  we  con 
centrated  all  the  work  that  we  command  at  that  point,  by  closing  our 
Detroit  shops  entirely,  and  laying  off  a  large  number  of  men  at  our 
other  repair  shops,  and  gave  to  Pullman  the  repair  of  all  cars  that 
could  be  taken  care  of  there. 

Also  for  the  further  benefit  of  our  people  at  Pullman,  we  have 
carried  on  a  large  system  of  internal  improvements,  having  expended 
nearly  $160,000  since  August  last  in  work,  which,  under  normal  con 
ditions,  would  have  been  spread  over  one  or  two  years.  The  policy 
would  be  to  continue  this  class  of  work  to  as  great  an  extent  as  pos 
sible,  provided,  of  course,  the  Pullman  men  show  a  proper  apprecia 
tion  of  the  situation  by  doing  whatever  they  can  to  help  themselves 
to  tide  over  the  hard  times  which  are  so  seriously  felt  in  every  part 
of  the  country.  .  .  . 

At  a  meeting  of  the  local  committee  held  during  the  night  of 
May  10  a  strike  was  decided  upon,  and  accordingly  the  next 
day  about  2500  of  the  employes  quit  their  work,  leaving  about 
600  at  work,  of  whom  very  few  were  skilled  workmen.  As  it 
was  found  impracticable  to  keep  the  shops  in  operation  with 
a  force  thus  diminished  and  disorganized,  the  next  day  those 


The  Cleveland  Democracy  529 

remaining  were  necessarily  laid  off,  and  no  work  has  since  been 
done  in  the  shops. 

The  pay-rolls  at  the  time  amounted  to  about  $7,000  a  day, 
and  were  reduced  $5,500  by  the  strike,  so  that  during  the  period 
of  a  little  more  than  six  weeks  which  has  elapsed  the  employes 
who  quit  their  work  have  deprived  themselves  and  their  com 
rades  of  earnings  of  more  than  $200,000.  .  .  . 

While  deploring  the  possibility  of  annoyance  to  the  public  by 
the  threats  of  irresponsible  organizations  to  interrupt  the  orderly 
ministration  to  the  comfort  of  travelers  on  railway  lines  aggre 
gating  125,000  miles  in  length,  the  Pullman  company  can  do 
no  more  than  explain  its  situation  to  the  public.  It  has  two 
separate  branches  of  business,  essentially  distinct  from  each 
other.  One  is  to  provide  sleeping  cars,  which  are  delivered  by 
it  under  contract  to  the  various  railway  companies,  to  be  run  by 
them  on  their  lines  as  a  part  of  their  trains  for  the  carriage  of 
passengers,  over  the  movements  of  which  this  company  has  no 
control.  .  .  .  The  other,  and  a  distinct  branch  of  the  business 
of  the  Pullman  company,  is  the  manufacture  of  sleeping  cars 
for  the  above-mentioned  use  of  railway  companies,  and  the 
manufacture  for  sale  to  railway  companies  of  freight  cars  and 
ordinary  passenger  cars,  and  of  street  cars,  and  this  business  is 
almost  at  a  standstill  throughout  the  United  States. 

The  business  of  manufacturing  cars  for  sale  gives  employment 
to  about  70%  of  the  shop  employes.  The  manufacture  of  sleep 
ing  cars  for  use  by  the  railway  companies  under  contract  gives 
employment  to  about  1 5  °fc  of  the  shop  employes.  .  .  . 

It  is  now  threatened  by  the  American  Railway  Union  officials 
that  railway  companies  using  Pullman  sleeping  cars  shall  be 
compelled  to  deprive  their  passengers  of  sleeping-car  accommo 
dations,  unless  the  Pullman  company  will  agree  to  submit  to 
arbitration  the  question  as  to  whether  or  not  it  shall  open  its 
manufacturing  shops  at  Pullman  and  operate  them  under  a 
scale  of  wages  which  would  cause  a  daily  loss  to  it  of  one-fourth 
the  wages  paid. 

The  economic  aspect  of  the  strike,  however,  was  not 
the  only  one,  nor  perhaps  even  the  chief  one.  Early  in 


5  30      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

July,  after  the  mob  in  Chicago  had  begun  the  destruction 
of  railroad  property,  President  Cleveland,  in  accordance 
with  the  authority  given  him  by  the  laws  of  the  United 
States,1  ordered  federal  troops  to  the  scene  of  action  to 
preserve  order.  The  controversy  which  arose  between 
President  Cleveland  and  Governor  Altgeld  of  Illinois  over 
this  procedure  is  described  by  the  former  in  his  article, 
"The  Government  in  the  Chicago  Strike  of  1894": 

I  must  not  fail  to  mention  here  as  part  of  the  history  of  this 
perplexing  affair,'  a  contribution  made  by  the  governor  of  Illinois 
to  its  annoyances.  This  official  not  only  refused  to  regard  the 
riotous  disturbances  within  the  borders  of  his  State  as  a  suffi 
cient  cause  for  an  application  to  the  Federal  Government  for  its 
protection  "  against  domestic  violence  "  under  the  mandate  of 
the  Constitution,2  but  he  actually  protested  against  the  presence 
of  Federal  troops  sent  into  the  State  upon  the  General  Gov 
ernment's  own  initiative  and  for  the  purpose  of  defending  itself 
in  the  exercise  of  its  well-defined  legitimate  functions. 

On  the  5th  day  of  July,  twenty-four  hours  after  our  soldiers 
had  been  brought  into  the  city  of  Chicago,  pursuant  to  the 
order  of  July  3d,  I  received  a  long  despatch  from  Governor 
Altgeld,  beginning  as  follows: 

I  am  advised  that  you  have  ordered  Federal  troops  to  go  into  serv 
ice  in  the  State  of  Illinois.  Surely  the  facts  have  not  been  correctly 

1  Section  5298  of  the  Revised  Statutes  of  the  United  States  reads : 
"  Whenever,  by  reason  of  unlawful  obstructions,  combinations  or  as 
semblages  of  persons,  or  rebellion  against  the  authority  of  the  United 
States,  it  shall  become  impracticable  in  the  judgment  of  the  President 
to  enforce,  by  the  ordinary  course  of  judicial  proceedings,  the  laws  of 
the  United  States  within  any  State  or  Territory,  it  shall  be  lawful  for 
the  President  to  call  forth  the  militia  of  any  or  all  of  the  States,  and  to 
employ  such  parts  of  the  land  or  naval  forces  of  the  United  States  as 
he  may  deem  necessary  to  enforce  the  faithful  execution  of  the  laws  of 
the  United  States,  or  to  suppress  such  rebellion,  in  whatever  State  or 
Territory  thereof  the  laws  of  the  United  States  may  be  forcibly  oppressed 
or  the  execution  thereof  be  forcibly  obstructed." 

2  Constitution,  Article  IV,  sect.  IV. 


The  Cleveland  Democracy  5  3  * 

presented  to  you  in  this  case  or  you  would  not  have  taken  the  step ; 
for  it  is  entirely  unnecessary,  and,  as  it  seems  to  me,  unjustifiable. 
Waiving  all  question  of  courtesy,  I  will  say  that  the  State  of  Illinois 
is  not  only  able  to  take  care  of  itself,  but  it  stands  ready  today  to  fur 
nish  the  Federal  Government  any  assistance  it  may  need  elsewhere. 

This  opening  sentence  was  followed  by  a  lengthy  statement 
which  so  far  missed  actual  conditions  as  to  appear  irrelevant 
and,  in  some  parts,  absolutely  frivolous.  This  remarkable  des 
patch  closed  with  the  following  words : 

As  Governor  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  I  protest  against  this  and 
ask  the  immediate  withdrawal  of  Federal  troops  from  active  duty  in 
this  State.  Should  the  situation  at  any  time  get  so  serious  that  we 
cannot  control  it  with  State  forces,  we  will  promptly  and  freely  ask 
for  Federal  assistance;  but  until  such  time  I  protest  with  all  due 
deference  against  this  uncalled-for  reflection  upon  our  people,  and 
again  ask  for  the  immediate  withdrawal  of  these  troops. 

Immediately  upon  receipt  of  this  communication,  I  sent  to 
Governor  Altgeld  the  following  reply : 

Federal  troops  were  sent  to  Chicago  in  strict  accordance  with  the 
Constitution  and  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  upon  the  demand  of 
the  Post-Office  Department  that  obstructions  of  the  mails  should  be 
removed,  and  upon  the  representation  of  the  judicial  officers  of  the 
United  States  that  process  of  the  Federal  courts  could  not  be  executed 
through  ordinary  means,  and  upon  abundant  proof  that  conspiracies 
existed  against  commerce  between  the  States.  To  meet  these  condi 
tions,  which  are  clearly  within  the  province  of  Federal  authority,  the 
presence  of  Federal  troops  in  the  city  of  Chicago  was  deemed  not 
only  proper  but  necessary  ;  and  there  has  been  no  intention  of  thereby 
interfering  with  the  plain  duty  of  the  local  authorities  to  preserve  the 
peace  of  the  city. 

In  response  to  this  the  governor,  evidently  unwilling  to  allow 
the  matter  at  issue  between  us  to  rest  without  a  renewal  of  argu 
ment  and  protest,  at  once  addressed  to  me  another  long  tel 
egraphic  communication,  evidently  intended  to  be  more  severely 
accusatory  and  insistent  than  its  predecessor.  Its  general  tenor 
may  be  inferred  from  the  opening  words : 


532       History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

Your  answer  to  my  protest  involves  some  startling  conclusions, 
and  ignores  and  evades  the  question  at  issue  —  that  is,  that  the  prin 
ciple  of  local  fundamental  self-government  is  just  as  fundamental  in 
our  institutions  as  is  that  of  Federal  supremacy.  You  calmly  assume 
that  the  Executive  has  the  legal  right  to  order  Federal  troops  into 
any  community  of  the  United  States  in  the  first  instance,  wherever 
there  is  the  slightest  disturbance,  and  that  he  can  do  this  without 
any  regard  to  the  question  as  to  whether  the  community  is  able  to 
and  ready  to  enforce  the  law  itself. 

After  a  rather  dreary  discussion  of  the  importance  of  preserv 
ing  the  rights  of  the  States,  and  a  presentation  of  the  dangers 
to  constitutional  government  that  lurked  in  the  course  that  had 
been  pursued  by  the  general  Government,  this  communication 
closed  as  follows : 

Inasmuch  as  the  Federal  troops  can  do  nothing  but  what  the  State 
troops  can  do  there,  and  believing  that  the  State  is  amply  able  to 
take  care  of  the  situation  and  to  enforce  the  law,  and  believing  that 
the  ordering  out  of  the  Federal  troops  was  unwarranted,  I  again  ask 
their  withdrawal. 

I  confess  that  my  patience  was  somewhat  strained  when  I 
quickly  sent  the  following  despatch  in  reply  to  this  communication : 

Executive  Mansion 
Washington  D.C.,  July  6,  1894 

While  I  am  still  persuaded  that  I  have  neither  transcended  my 
authority  nor  duty  in  the  emergency  that  confronts  us,  it  seems  to 
me  that  in  this  hour  of  danger  and  public  distress,  discussion  may 
well  give  way  to  active  efforts  on  the  part  of  all  in  authority  to  restore 
obedience  to  law  and  to  protect  life  and  property. 

Grover  Cleveland 
Hon.  John  P.  Altgeld 

Governor  of  Illinois 

This  closed  a  discussion  which  in  its  net  results  demonstrated 
how  far  one's  disposition  and  inclination  will  lead  him  astray  in 
the  field  of  argument. 

Early  in  June,  1895,  Richard  Olney  of  Massachusetts 
succeeded  W.  Q.  Gresham  as  Secretary  of  State  in  Cleve 
land's  cabinet,  and,  at  the  President's  suggestion,  prepared 


The  Cleveland  Democracy  533 

an  energetic  statement  of  our  claim  to  compel  Great  Britain,  114.  Twist- 
in  the  name  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  to  arbitrate  its  long-  j"j[  ^,s  n1 
standing  dispute  with  Venezuela  over  the  boundary  of  tail :  the 

Venezuela 

British  Guiana.    Olney's  message,  dated  at  Washington,  affair,  1895 
July  20,   1895,  was  delivered  by  Ambassador  Bayard  to       [444] 
Lord  Salisbury,  the  British  prime  minister,  on  August  7. 
After  outlining  the  history  of  the  boundary  dispute  since 
1 840,  Secretary  Olney  continues  : 

The  important  features  of  the  existing  situation,  as  shown 
by  the  foregoing  recital,  may  be  briefly  stated : — 

1.  The  title  to  territory  of  indefinite  but  confessedly  very 
large  extent  is  in  dispute  between  Great  Britain  on  the  one  hand 
and  the  South  American  Republic  of  Venezuela  on  the  other. 

2.  The  disparity  in  strength  of  the  claimants  is  such  that 
Venezuela  can  hope  to  establish  her  claim  only  through  peace 
ful  methods  —  through  an  agreement  with  her  adversary  either 
upon  the  subject  itself  or  upon  an  arbitration. 

3.  The  controversy  with  varying  claims  on  the  part  of  Great 
Britain  has  existed  for  more  than  a  half-a-century,  during  which 
period  many  earnest  and   persistent  efforts  of  Venezuela  to 
establish  a  boundary  by  agreement  have  proved  unsuccessful. 

4.  The  futility  of  the  endeavor  to  obtain  a  conventional  line 
being  recognized,  Venezuela,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  has 
asked  and  striven  for  arbitration. 

5.  Great  Britain  however  has  always  and  continuously  re 
fused,  and  still  refuses,  to  arbitrate  except  upon  the  condition 
of  a  renunciation  of  a  large  part  of  the  Venezuelan  claim,  and 
of  a  concession  to  herself  of  a  large  share  of  the  territory  in 
controversy. 

6.  By  the  frequent  interposition  of  its  good  offices  at  the  in 
stance  of  Venezuela,  by  constantly  urging  and  promoting  the 
restoration  of  diplomatic  relations  between  the  two  countries,  by 
pressing  for  arbitration  of  the  disputed  boundary,  by  offering 
to  act  as  arbitrator,  by  expressing  its  grave  concern  whenever 
new  alleged  instances  of  British  aggression  of  Venezuelan  terri 
tory  have  been  brought  to  its  notice,  the  Government  of  the 


534       History  of  the  Repiiblic  since  the  Civil  War 

United  States  has  made  it  clear  to  Great  Britain  and  to  the 
world  that  the  controversy  is  one  in  which  both  its  honor  and 
its  interests  are  involved,  and  the  continuance  of  which  it 
cannot  regard  with  indifference.  .  .  . 

Those  charged  with  the  interests  of  the  United  States  are 
now  forced  to  determine  exactly  what  those  interests  are  and 
what  course  of  action  they  require  ...  to  decide  to  what  extent, 
if  any,  the  United  States  may  and  should  intervene  in  a  con 
troversy  between  and  primarily  concerning  only  Great  Britain 
and  Venezuela,  and  to  decide  how  far  it  is  bound  to  see  that 
the  integrity  of  Venezuelan  territory  is  not  impaired  by  the 
pretensions  of  its  powerful  antagonist.  .  .'  . 

The  Monroe  doctrine  .  .  .  does  not  establish  any  general 
Protectorate  by  the  United  States  over  other  American  States. 
It  does  not  relieve  any  American  State  from  its  obligations  as 
fixed  by  international  law  nor  prevent  any  European  power 
directly  interested  from  enforcing  such  obligations  or  from  in 
flicting  merited  punishment  for  the  breach  of  them.  .  .  .  The 
rule  in  question  has  but  a  single  purpose  and  object.  It  is  that 
no  European  power  or  combination  of  European  powers  shall 
forcibly  deprive  an  American  State  of  the  right  and  power  of 
self-government  and  of  shaping  for  itself  its  own  political  for 
tunes  and  destinies.  .  .  . 

It  is  manifest  that  if  a  rule  has  been  openly  and  uniformly 
declared  and  acted  upon  by  the  Executive  Branch  of  the  Gov 
ernment  for  more  than  seventy  years  without  express  repudia 
tion  by  Congress,  it  must  be  conclusively  presumed  to  have  its 
sanction.  ...  It  rests  upon  facts  and  principles  that  are  both 
intelligible  and  incontrovertible.  .  .  .  Europe,  as  Washington 
observed,  has  a  set  of  primary  interests  which  are  peculiar  to 
herself.  America  is  not  interested  in  them,  and  ought  not  to  be 
vexed  or  complicated  with  them.  Each  great  European  power, 
for  instance,  today  maintains  enormous  armies  and  fleets  in 
self-defence,  and  for  protection  against  any  other  European 
Power  or  Powers.  What  have  the  United  States  of  America 
to  do  with  that  condition  of  things,  or  why  should  they  be  im 
poverished  by  wars  or  preparations  for  wars  with  whose  causes 
or  results  they  can  have  no  direct  concern  ?  .  .  . 


The  Cleveland  Democracy  535 

The  people  of  the  United  States  have  learned  in  the  school  of 
experience  to  what  extent  the  relations  of  States  to  each  other  de 
pend  not  upon  sentiment  nor  principle,  but  upon  selfish  interest. 
They  will  not  soon  forget  that  in  their  hour  of  distress  all  their 
anxieties  and  burdens  were  aggravated  by  the  possibility  of  dem 
onstrations  against  their  national  life  on  the  part  of  Powers  with 
whom  they  had  long  maintained  the  most  harmonious  relations 

Today  the  United  States  is  practically  sovereign  on  this  con 
tinent,  and  its  fiat  is  law  upon  the  subjects  to  which  it  confines 
its  interposition.  Why  ?  .  .  .  It  is  because,  in  addition  to  all 
other  grounds,  its  infinite  resources  combined  with  its  isolated 
position  render  it  master  of  the  situation  and  practically  invul 
nerable  as  against  any  or  all  other  powers. .  .  .  The  advantages 
of  this  superiority  are  at  once  imperilled  if  the  principle  be 
admitted  that  European  powers  may  convert  American  States 
into  colonies  or  provinces  of  their  own.  .  .  . 

The  territory  which  Great  Britain  insists  shall  be  ceded  to 
her  as  a  condition  of  arbitrating  her  claim  to  other  territory  has 
never  been  admitted  to  belong  to  her.  It  has  always  and  con 
sistently  been  claimed  by  Venezuela.  Upon  what  principle  — 
except  her  feebleness  as  a  nation  —  is  she  to  be  denied  the  right 
of  having  the  claim  heard  and  passed  upon  by  an  impartial  Tri 
bunal  ?  No  reason  or  shadow  of  reason  appears  in  all  the  volu 
minous  literature  of  the  subject.  "  It  is  to  be  so  because  I  will  it 
to  be  so"  seems  to  be  the  only  justification  Great  Britain  offers 

In  these  circumstances,  the  duty  of  the  President  appears  to 
him  unmistakable  and  imperative.  Great  Britain's  assertion  of 
a  title  to  the  disputed  territory,  combined  with  her  refusal  to 
have  that  title  investigated,  being  a  substantial  appropriation 
of  that  territory  to  her  own  use,  not  to  protest  .  .  .  would  be  to 
ignore  an  established  policy  [the  Monroe  Doctrine]  with  which 
the  honor  and  welfare  of  this  country  are  closely  identified. 
While  the  measures  necessary  or  proper  for  the  vindication  of 
that  policy  are  to  be  determined  by  another  branch  of  the  Gov 
ernment,1  it  is  clearly  for  the  Executive  to  leave  nothing  undone 
which  may  tend  to  render  such  determination  unnecessary. 

1  A  veiled  threat  of  war,  in  reference  to  the  powers  of  Congress, 
enumerated  in  Article  I,  Sect.  VIII,  par.  10-13,  of  the  Constitution. 


536      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

You  are  instructed,  therefore,  to  present  the  foregoing  views 
to  Lord  Salisbury.  .  .  .  They  call  for  a  definite  decision  upon  the 
point  whether  Great  Britain  will  consent  or  will  decline  to  sub 
mit  the  Venezuelan  boundary  question  in  its  entirety  to  impar 
tial  arbitration.  It  is  the  earnest  hope  of  the  President  that  the 
conclusion  will  be  on  the  side  of  arbitration.  ...  If  he  is  to  be 
disappointed  in  that  hope,  however  —  a  result  not  to  be  antici 
pated,  and  in  his  judgment  calculated  to  greatly  embarrass  the 
future  relations  between  this  country  and  Great  Britain  —  it  is 
his  wish  to  be  made  acquainted  with  the  fact  at  such  early  date 
as  will  enable  him  to  lay  the  whole  subject  before  Congress  in 

his  next  Annual  Message, 

I  am  etc. 

Richard  Olney 

The  reply  to  Olney's  message  was  sent  by  Lord  Salis 
bury  to  Sir  Julian  Pauncefote,  British  ambassador  at 
Washington,  on  November  26,  1895,  too  late  to  furnish 
President  Cleveland  with  material  for  his  annual  message 
to  Congress  the  first  week  in  December.  The  British 
premier's  note  was  a  polite  but  firm  rejection  of  Olney's 
claims.  In  the  course  of  the  dispatch  Lord  Salisbury 
said: 

The  contentions  set  forth  by  Mr.  Olney  ...  are  represented 
by  him  as  being  an  application  of  the  political  maxims  which 
are  well  known  in  American  discussion  under  the  name  of  the 
Monroe  doctrine.  As  far  as  I  am  aware,  this  doctrine  has  never 
been  before  advanced  on  behalf  of  the  United  States  in  any 
written  communication  addressed  to  the  Government  of  another 
nation ;  but  it  has  been  generally  adopted  and  assumed  as  true 
by  many  eminent  writers  and  politicians  in  the  United  States. 
•.  .  .  But  during  the  period  that  has  elapsed  since  the  Message 
of  President  Monroe  was  delivered  in  1823,  the  doctrine  has 
undergone  a  very  notable  development,  and  the  aspect  which  it 
now  presents  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Olney  differs  widely  from  its 
character  when  it  first  issued  from  the  pen  of  its  author.  .  .  . 
The  dangers  which  were  apprehended  by  President  Monroe 


The  Cleveland  Democracy  537 

have  no  relation  to  the  state  of  things  in  which  we  live  at  the 
present  day.  There  is  no  danger  of  any  Holy  Alliance  imposing 
its  system  upon  any  portion  of  the  American  Continent,  and 
there  is  no  danger  of  any  European  State  treating  any  part  of 
the  American  Continent  as  a  fit  object  for  European  coloniza 
tion.  .  .  .  Great  Britain  is  imposing  no  "  system  "  upon  Vene 
zuela,  and  is  not  concerning  herself  in  any  way  with  the  nature 
of  the  political  institutions  under  which  the  Venezuelans  may 
prefer  to  live.  But  the  British  Empire  and  the  Republic  of 
Venezuela  are  neighbors,  and  they  have  differed  for  some  time 
past,  and  continue  to  differ,  as  to  the  line  by  which  their  domin 
ions  are  separated.  It  is  a.  controversy  with  which  the  United 
States  have  no  apparent  practical  concern.  .  .  . 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  ...  lay  down  that  the 
doctrine  of  President  Monroe  .  .  .  confers  on  them  the  right  of 
demanding  that  when  a  European  Power  has  a  frontier  differ 
ence  with  a  South  American  community,  the  European  Power 
shall  consent  to  refer  that  controversy  to  arbitration ;  and  Mr. 
Olney  states  that  unless  Her  Majesty's  Government  accede  to 
this  demand,  it  will  "greatly  embarrass  the  future  relations 
between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States." 

Whatever  may  be  the  authority  of  the  doctrine  laid  down  by 
President  Monroe,  there  is  nothing  in  his  language  to  show  that 
he  ever  thought  of  claiming  this  novel  prerogative  for  the  United 
States.  .  .  .  [Arbitration]  has  proved  itself  valuable  in  many 
cases ;  but  it  is  not  free  from  defects.  ...  It  is  not  always  easy  to 
find  an  Arbitrator  who  is  competent,  and  who  at  the  same  time 
is  wholly  free  from  bias ;  and  the  task  of  insuring  compliance 
with  the  Award  when  it  is  made  is  not  exempt  from  difficulty.  . .  . 

In  the  remarks  which  I  have  made,  I  have  argued  on  the 
theory  that  the  Monroe  doctrine  in  itself  is  sound.  I  must  not, 
however,  be  understood  as  expressing  any  acceptance  of  it  on 
the  part  of  Her  Majesty's  Government.  It  must  always  be 
mentioned  with  respect,  on  account  of  the  distinguished  states 
man  to  whom  it  is  due,  and  the  great  nation  who  have  generally 
adopted  it.  But  international  law  is  founded  on  the  general  con 
sent  of  nations;  no  statesman,  however  eminent,  and  no  nation, 
however  powerful,  are  competent  to  insert  into  the  code  of 


History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

international  law  a  novel  principle.  .  .  .  The  United  States  have 
a  right,  like  any  other  nation,  to  interpose  in  any  controversy 
by  which  their  own  interests  are  affected ;  they  are  the  judge 
whether  those  interests  are  touched,  and  in  what  measure  they 
should  be  sustained.  But  their  rights  are  in  no  way  strengthened 
or  extended  by  the  fact  that  the  controversy  affects  some  territory 
which  is  called  American.  .  .  .  The  Government  of  the  United 
States  is  not  entitled  to  affirm  as  a  universal  proposition,  with 
reference  to  a  number  of  independent  States  for  whose  conduct 
it  assumes  no  responsibility,  that  its  interests  are  necessarily 
concerned  in  whatever  may  befall  those  States  simply  because 
they  are  situated  in  the  Western  Hemisphere.  .  .  . 

President  Cleveland  sent  Olney's  dispatch  and  Lord 
Salisbury's  reply  to  Congress  on  December  17,  1895,  ac 
companied  by  a  vigorous  message,  which  was  hailed  with 
enthusiasm  by  half  the  nation  as  a  brave  assertion  of  our 
national  honor,  and  deplored  by  the  other  half  as  a  piece 
of  blustering  jingoism,  whose  only  effect  would  be  to 
raise  a  horrid  war  cloud  to  spoil  the  bright  holiday  season. 
After  stating  Lord  Salisbury's  position  on  the  Monroe 
Doctrine,  Cleveland  said  : 

Without  attempting  extended  argument  in  reply  to  these  posi 
tions,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  suggest  that  the  doctrine  upon 
which  we  stand  is  strong  and  sound,  because  its  enforcement 
is  important  to  our  peace  and  safety  as  a  nation,  and  is  essential 
to  the  integrity  of  our  free  institutions  and  the  tranquil  mainte 
nance  of  our  distinctive  form  of  government.  It  was  intended 
to  apply  to  every  stage  of  our  national  life,  and  cannot  become 
obsolete  while  our  Republic  endures.  If  the  balance  of  power 
is  justly  a  cause  for  jealous  anxiety  among  the  governments  of 
the  Old  World  and  a  subject  for  our  absolute  non-interference, 
none  the  less  is  the  observance  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  of  vital 
concern  to  our  people  and  their  Government.  .  .  . 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  correspondence  herewith  submitted 
that  this  proposition  [of  arbitration]  has  been  declined  by  the 


The  Cleveland  Democracy  539 

British  Government  upon  grounds  which  in  the  circumstances 
seem  to  me  to  be  far  from  satisfactory.  It  is  deeply  disappoint 
ing  that  such  an  appeal,  actuated  by  the  most  friendly  feelings 
towards  both  nations  directly  concerned,  addressed  to  the  sense 
of  justice  and  to  the  magnanimity  of  one  of  the  great  powers 
of  the  world,  and  touching  its  relations  to  one  comparatively 
weak  and  small,  should  have  produced  no  better  results. 

The  course  to  be  pursued  by  this  Government  in  view  of  the 
present  condition  does  not  appear  to  admit  of  serious  doubt. 
Having  labored  faithfully  for  many  years  to  induce  Great  Britain 
to  submit  their  dispute  to  impartial  arbitration,  and  having  been 
finally  apprised  of  her  refusal  to  do  so,  nothing  remains  but  to 
accept  the  situation,  to  recognize  its  plain  requirements,  and  deal 
with  it  accordingly.  .  . .  Assuming  that  the  attitude  of  Venezuela 
will  remain  unchanged,  the  dispute  has  reached  such  a  stage  as 
to  make  it  now  incumbent  upon  the  United  States  to  take 
measures  to  determine  with  sufficient  certainty  for  its  justifica 
tion  what  is  the  true  divisional  line  between  the  Republic  of 
Venezuela  and  British  Guiana.  The  inquiry  to  that  end  should, 
of  course,  be  conducted  carefully  and  judicially  ;  and  due  weight 
should  be  given  to  all  available  evidence,  records,  and  facts  in 
support  of  the  claims  of  both  parties.1  .  .  . 

When  such  report  is  made  and  accepted,  it  will,  in  my  opinion, 
be  the  duty  of  the  United  States  to  resist  by  every  means  in  its 
power,  as  a  wilful  aggression  upon  its  rights  and  interests,  the 
appropriation  by  Great  Britain  of  any  lands  or  the  exercise  of 
governmental  jurisdiction  over  any  territory  which  after  investi 
gation  we  have  determined  of  right  belongs  to  Venezuela. 

In  making  these  recommendations  I  am  fully  alive  to  the 
responsibility  incurred,  and  keenly  realize  all  the  consequences 
that  may  follow. 

1  am,  nevertheless,  firm  in  my  conviction  that  while  it  is 
a  grievous  thing  to  contemplate  the  two  great  English-speaking 

1  In  accordance  with  the  president's  recommendation,  Congress 
passed  a  law  on  December  21,  authorizing  the  appointment  of  a  com 
mission  to  investigate  the  true  boundary  line  and  appropriating  $100,000 
for  the  expenses  of  the  commission.  For  the  work  of  the  commissiorr 
see  Muzzey,  An  American  History,  p.  445. 


540      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

peoples  of  the  world  as  being  otherwise  than  friendly  competitors 
in  the  onward  march  of  civilization,  and  strenuous  and  worthy 
rivals  in  all  the  arts  of  peace,  there  is  no  calamity  which  a  great 
nation  can  invite  which  equals  that  which  follows  a  supine 
submission  to  wrong  and  injustice,  and  the  consequent  loss  of 
national  self-respect  and  honor,  beneath  which  are  shielded  and 
defended  a  people's  safety  and  greatness. 

We  conclude  this  section  with  two  comments  of  the 
British  press  on  the  message  just  quoted,  the  first  (a)  from 
The  Saturday  Review  (weekly)  of  December  21,  1895  ; 
the  second  (b)  from  The  National  Review  (monthly)  of 
January,  1896. 

(a) 

President  Cleveland's  second  Message  to  Congress,  in  answer 
to  Lord  Salisbury,  is  handled  in  another  column  as  a  fair  speci 
men  of  "  American  Election  Literature."  We  wish  to  draw 
attention  here  to  the  fact  that  Lord  Salisbury's  answer  to 
Mr.  Secretary  Olney  was  not  only  not  provocative,  but  emi 
nently  conciliatory.  Lord  Salisbury  went  so  far  as  to  accept  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  in  exactly  the  form  in  which,  according  to 
Mr.  Goldwin  Smith,  it  is  held  by  the  majority  of  Americans ; 
he  expressed  his  full  agreement  in  the  view  "  that  any  disturb 
ance  of  the  existing  territorial  distribution  in  the  Western  hemi 
sphere  by  any  fresh  acquisition  on  the  part  of  any  European 
State  would  be  a  highly  inexpedient  change."  It  has  been 
admitted  by  several  of  the  more  serious  American  journals,1 
that  President  Cleveland's  Message  in  reply  is  not  only  unjusti 
fiably  arrogant,  but  hostile  in  tone  to  a  degree  almost  without 
precedent  in  diplomatic  communications. 

The  truth  of  the  matter  is  that  President  Cleveland,  having 
at  length  realized  that  his  tariff-policy  had  cost  the  Democratic 
party  New  Jersey  and  Kentucky,  resolved  to  win  the  support 
of  the  Irish  and  Jingoes  in  the  United  States  by  twisting  the 

1  Notably  the  Evening  Post,  the  New  York  World,  the  New  York 
Herald,  and  the  Boston  Herald. 


The  Cleveland  Democracy  541 

British  lion's  tail.  Unluckily  the  Republican  Senators  drew  him 
into  a  declaration  of  "  spirited  foreign  policy  "  six  months  too 
soon.  His  Message  is  already  being  ridiculed  with  impartial 
criticism.  The  London  Stock  Exchange  has  shown  an  exact 
and  humorous  appreciation  of  the  situation  by  telegraphing  to 
the  New  York  Stock  Exchange  its  hope  that  in  the  event  of 
hostilities  between  the  two  countries  the  British  warships  would 
not  have  their  movements  interfered  with  by  irresponsible  ex 
cursion  steamers  issuing  from  New  York  and  other  ports.  The 
New  York  Exchange,  we  understand,  has  replied  to  the  effect 
that  they  hope  that  our  warships  are  better  than  our  yachts.1 
In  fine,  the  sensible  people  on  both  sides  of  the  water  have 
recognized  that  President  Cleveland  has  played  Dogberry  to  no 
purpose.  He  has  written  himself  down  an  ass,  and  that  is  about 
all  he  has  accomplished. 


It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  the  dominating  event  of  the  past 
month  has  been  President  Cleveland's  stupefying  effort  to  plunge 
the  two  great  branches  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  into  a  bloody 
war.  At  the  time  of  writing  it  is  uncertain  whether  he  will 
succeed  or  not  ;  now-a-days  we  find  ourselves  one  moment  in 
a  tornado  of  sensational  excitement,  and  the  next  in  an  almost 
enervating  calm  ;  and  it  may  be  that  by  the  time  these  pages 
are  in  the  reader's  hands,  affairs  will  have  resumed  a  compara 
tively  normal  condition  and  the  Americans  will  have  recovered 
their  sense  of  proportion.  On  the  other  hand  it  is  just  conceiv 
able  that  Mr.  Cleveland  might  strike  a  popular  chord  of  hatred 
to  England.  The  people  of  whom  he  is  the  official  mouthpiece 
may  be  weary  of  peace  and  progress,  and,  having  selected 
something  "  cheap  "  to  run  into,  are  prepared  to  embark  on 
an  adventure  against  the  British  Empire.  In  any  case  a  grave 
situation  has  been  created,  and  with  all  the  goodwill  in  the 
world  —  and  we  have  not  as  a  nation  been  unmindful  of  our 
kinship  to  the  American  people,  from  whom  we  have  pocketed 

1  Referring  to  the  repeated  attempts  of  the  British  yachts  to  "  lift  " 
the  American  cup  in  the  races  in  New  York  Bay. 


542      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

affronts  that  we  should  not  have  tolerated  at  the  hands  of  any 
other  country,  and  which  none  of  the  older  members  of  the 
company  of  nations  would  offer  one  another  unless  war  were 
intended  —  the  incident,  if  it  retains  the  modest  dimensions  of 
an  "  incident,"  cannot  but  affect  the  cordiality  of  our  future 
relations  with  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

For  the  moment  it  is  irrelevant  to  examine  the  merits  of  the 
dispute ;  let  us  assume  that  Venezuela  is  right  on  every  point, 
and  that  the  colony's  [Guiana's]  claim  is  a  spurious  one,  which 
Lord  Salisbury  has  adduced  untenable  arguments  to  support. 
Still  the  amenities  of  international  intercourse  among  civilized 
nations  are  held  to  preclude  recourse  to  public  menace  until 
every  form  of  diplomatic  expostulation  has  been  exhausted.  The 
disheartening  aspect  of  this  document  to  all  who  labor  to 
strengthen  the  ties  between  English-speaking  peoples  lies  in  the 
fact  that  a  popularity-seeking  President  of  great  experience  in 
gauging  the  opinion  of  his  countrymen,  should  think  it  worth 
while  to  read  the  United  States  out  of  the  comity  of  nations  in 
order  to  obtain  the  anti-English  vote. 

The  chief  issue  before  the  National  Democratic  Nomi 
nating  Convention  of  1 896  at  Chicago  was  the  free  coinage 
of  silver  at  the  ratio  of  16  to  i.  The  majority  report  on 
the  platform  favored  the  measure,  but  a  strong  minority 
report,  supporting  the  single  gold  standard  was  ably 
supported  by  Senator  Hill  of  New  York,  Senator  Vilas 
of  Wisconsin,  and  ex-Governor  Russell  of  Massachusetts. 
The  debate  was  closed  by  the  Honorable  William  J.  Bryan 
of  Nebraska,  with  an  ardent  speech  in  favor  of  free  silver, 
which  won  him  the  Democratic  nomination  for  the  presi 
dency  and  brought  him  into  the  prominent  position  in  Amer 
ican  politics  which  he  has  occupied  now  for  twenty  years. 

MR.  CHAIRMAN  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVENTION  : 

I  would  be  presumptuous,  indeed,  to  present  myself  against 
the  distinguished  gentlemen  to  whom  you  have  listened  if  this 


The  Cleveland  Democracy  543 

were  a  mere  measuring  of  abilities ;  but  this  is  not  a  contest 
between  persons.  The  humblest  citizen  in  all  the  land,  when 
clad  in  the  armor  of  a  righteous  cause,  is  stronger  than  all  the 
hosts  of  error.  I  come  to  speak  to  you  in  defense  of  a  cause  as 
holy  as  the  cause  of  liberty  —  the  cause  of  humanity. 

With  a  zeal  approaching  the  zeal  which  inspired  the  crusaders 
who  followed  Peter  the  Hermit,  our  silver  Democrats  went  forth 
from  victory  to  victory  until  they  are  now  assembled,  not  to 
discuss,  not  to  debate,  but  to  enter  up  the  judgment  already 
rendered  by  the  plain  people  of  this  country.  .  .  . 

When  you  (turning  to  the  gold  delegates)  come  before  us 
and  tell  us  that  we  are  about  to  disturb  your  business  interests, 
we  reply  that  you  have  disturbed  our  business  interests  by  your 
course.  We  say  to  you  that  you  have  made  the  definition  of  a 
business  man  too  limited  in  its  application.  The  man  who  is 
employed  for  wages  is  as  much  a  business  man  as  his  employer ; 
the  attorney  in  a  country  town  is  as  much  a  business  man  as 
the  corporation  counsel  in  a  great  metropolis ;  the  merchant 
at  the  cross-roads  store  is  as  much  a  business  man  as  the  mer 
chant  of  New  York ;  the  farmer  who  goes  forth  in  the  morn 
ing  and  toils  all  day  —  who  begins  in  the  spring  and  toils  all 
summer  —  and  who  by  the  application  of  brain  and  muscle  to 
the  natural  resources  of  the  country  creates  wealth,  is  as  much 
a  business  man  as  the  man  who  goes  upon  the  board  of  trade 
and  bets  upon  the  price  of  grain ;  the  miners  who  go  down  a 
thousand  feet  into  the  earth,  or  climb  two  thousand  feet  upon 
the  cliffs,  and  bring  forth  from  their  hiding  places  the  precious 
metals  to  be  poured  into  the  channels  of  trade  are  as  much 
business  men  as  the  few  financial  magnates  who,  in  a  back 
room,  corner  the  money  of  the  world.  We  come  to  speak  for 
this  broader  class  of  business  men.  .  .  . 

We  do  not  come  as  aggressors.  Our  war  is  not  a  war  of  con 
quest  ;  we  are  fighting  in  the  defense  of  our  homes,  our  families, 
and  posterity.  We  have  petitioned,  and  our  petitions  have  been 
scorned ;  we  have  entreated,  and  our  entreaties  have  been  dis 
regarded  ;  we  have  begged,  and  they  have  mocked  when  our 
calamity  came.  We  beg  no  longer ;  we  entreat  no  more ;  we 
petition  no  more.  We  defy  them.  .  .  . 


544      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

We  say  in  our  platform  that  we  believe  that  the  right  to  coin 
and  issue  money  is  a  function  of  our  government.  We  believe 
it.  We  believe  that  it  is  a  part  of  sovereignty,  and  that  it  can 
no  more  with  safety  be  delegated  to  private  individuals  than  .  .  . 
the  power  to  make  penal  statutes  or  levy  taxes.  Mr.  Jefferson, 
who  was  once  regarded  as  good  Democratic  authority,  seems  to 
have  differed  in  opinion  from  the  gentleman  [Senator  Vilas]  who 
has  addressed  us  on  the  part  of  the  minority.  Those  who  are 
opposed  to  this  proposition  tell  us  that  the  issue  of  paper  money 
is  a  function  of  the  bank,  and  that  the  Government  ought  to  go 
out  of  the  banking  business.  I  stand  with  Jefferson  rather  than 
with  them,  and  tell  them,  as  he  did,  that  the  issue  of  money  is 
a  function  of  government,  and  that  the  banks  ought  to  go  out 
of  the  governing  business.  .  .  . 

And  now,  my  friends,  let  me  come  to  the  paramount  issue. 
If  they  ask  us  why  it  is  that  we  say  more  on  the  money  ques 
tion  than  we  say  upon  the  tariff  question,  I  reply  that,  if  pro 
tection  has  slain  its  thousands,  the  gold  standard  has  slain  its 
tens  of  thousands.  If  they  ask  us  why  we  do  not  embody  in 
our  platform  all  the  things  that  we  believe  in,  we  reply  that 
when  we  have  restored  the  money  of  the  Constitution  all  other 
necessary  reforms  will  be  possible ;  but  that  until  this  is  done 
there  is  no  other  reform  that  can  be  accomplished.  .  .  . 

Mr.  Carlisle  said  in  1878  that  this  was  a  struggle  between 
"  the  idle  holders  of  idle  capital "  and  "  the  struggling  masses 
who  produce  the  wealth  and  pay  the  taxes  of  the  country  " ; 
and,  my  friends,  the  question  we  are  to  decide  is :  Upon  which 
side  will  the  Democratic  party  fight  ?  .  .  .  That  is  the  question 
which  the  party  must  answer  first,  and  then  it  must  be  answered 
by  each  individual  hereafter.  The  sympathies  of  the  Democratic 
party,  as  shown  by  the  platform,  are  on  the  side  of  the  struggling 
masses  who  have  ever  been  the  foundation  of  the  Democratic 
party.  There  are  two  ideas  of  government.  There  are  those 
who  believe  that,  if  you  will  only  legislate  to  make  the  well-to-do 
prosperous,  their  prosperity  will  leak  through  on  those  below. 
The  Democratic  idea,  however,  has  been  that  if  you  legislate  to 
make  the  masses  prosperous,  their  prosperity  will  find  its  way 
up  through  every  class  which  rests  upon  them. 


The  Cleveland  Democracy  545 

You  come  to  us  and  tell  us  that  the  great  cities  are  in  favor 
of  the  gold  standard ;  we  reply  that  the  great  cities  rest  upon 
our  broad  and  fertile  prairies.  Burn  down  your  cities  and  leave 
our  farms,  and  your  cities  will  spring  up  again  as  if  by  magic ; 
but  destroy  our  farms  and  the  grass  will  grow  in  the  streets  of 
every  city  in  the  country.  » 

My  friends,  we  declare  that  this  nation  is  able  to  legislate  for 
its  own  people  on  every  question,  without  waiting  for  the  aid 
or  consent  of  any  other  nation  on  earth ;  and  upon  that  issue 
we  expect  to  carry  every  State  in  the  Union.  I  shall  not  slander 
the  inhabitants  of  the  fair  State  of  Massachusetts  nor  the  in 
habitants  of  the  State  of  New  York  by  saying  that,  when  they 
are  confronted  with  the  proposition,  they  will  declare  that  this 
nation  is  not  able  to  attend  to  its  own  business.  It  is  the  issue 
of  1776  over  again.  Our  ancestors,  when  but  three  millions  in 
number,  had  the  courage  to  declare  their  political  independence 
of  every  other  nation ;  shall  we,  their  descendants,  when  we 
have  grown  to  seventy  millions,  declare  that  we  are  less  inde 
pendent  than  our  forefathers  ?  No,  my  friends,  that  will  never 
be  the  verdict  of  our  people.  Therefore  we  care  not  upon  what 
lines  the  battle  is  fought.  If  they  say  bimetallism  is  good,  but 
that  we  cannot  have  it  until  other  nations  help  us,  we  reply 
that,  instead  of  having  a  gold  standard  because  England  has,  we 
will  restore  bimetallism,  and  then  let  England  have  bimetallism 
because  the  United  States  has  it.  If  they  dare  to  come  out  in 
the  open  field  and  defend  the  gold  standard  as  a  good  thing, 
we  will  fight  them  to  the  uttermost.  Having  behind  us  the  pro 
ducing  masses  of  this  nation  and  the  world,  supported  by  the 
commercial  interests,  the  laboring  interests,  and  the  toilers  every 
where,  we  will  answer  their  demand  for  a  gold  standard  by  say 
ing  to  them :  You  shall  not  press  down  upon  the  brow  of  labor 
this  crown  of  thorns,  you  shall  not  crucify  mankind  upon  a 
cross  of  gold  1 


CHAPTER  XIX 

i 

ENTERING  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY 
THE  SPANISH  WAR  AND  THE  PHILIPPINES 

The  Spanish  War  of  1898  and  the  consequent  subjuga- 
of  tne  Philippine  Islands  were,  in  the  opinion  of  a 
[458]  great  many  people  in  our  country,  prompted  by  an  un 
worthy  desire  to  extend  our  markets  and  an  unholy  zeal 
to  depart  from  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  and  ape  imperialistic  Britain  in  dominating  the 
"  inferior  races  "  of  the  Orient.  In  an  editorial  entitled 
"At  the  Bar  of  History,"  the  Nation  of  July  4,  1901, 
maintained  that  President  McKinley  had  weakly  allowed 
Congress  to  bully  him  into  an  unjust  war. 

After  keeping  us  for  more  than  three  years  in  the  dark,  the 
Administration  has  at  last  deigned  to  publish  the  diplomatic 
correspondence  leading  up  to  the  war  with  Spain.1  This  was 
at  first  promised  in  connection  with  the  President's  war  mes 
sage  of  April  TI,  1898  ;  but  on  second  thought,  it  was  stated, 
Mr.  McKinley  determined  that  it  would  not  be  "  prudent "  to 
give  out  the  documents  at  that  time.  As  we  read  them  now,  it 
is  easy  to  agree  that  it  would  have  been  a  piece  of  terrible  im 
prudence  to  give  them  to  the  world  then,  since  they  prove  that 
the  war  was  needless.  This  tardy  publication  of  the  dispatches 
makes  it  impossible  to  deny  what,  in  fact,  Minister  Woodford, 
Senator  Hoar,  and  Hon.  George  S.  Boutwell  openly  asserted 
in  1898,  that  there  would  have  been  no  war  but  for  the  violence 
of  Congress  and  the  weakness  of  the  President. 

1  House  Documents,  55th  Congress,  3d  session,  Vol.  I,  No.  i, 
President's  Message  and  Foreign  Relations,  1898,  pp.  558-1085. 

546 


Entering  the  Twentieth  Century  547 

From  the  official  correspondence  we  learn  the  truth  of  the 
statement  made  by  Mr.  Boutelle  in  explanation  of  his  vote 
against  the  war — namely,  that "  Spain  had  conceded  nearly  every 
one  of  our  demands,  and  seemed  plainly  disposed  to  meet  them 
all,"  so  that,  but  for  the  insane  fury  of  Congress,  before  which 
Mr.  McKinley  fell  terrorized,  we  should,  as  Minister  Woodford 
said  publicly  in  Boston  in  October,  1898,  have  seen  the  Spanish 
flag  leave  Cuba  "  without  the  firing  of  a  shot  or  the  loss  of  a  life." 

The  proof  is  very  simple.  It  lies  on  the  face  of  the  dispatches. 
Passing  by  all  the  preliminaries,  we  find  Secretary  [of  State] 
Day,  on  March  27,  1898,  telegraphing  instructions  to  Minister 
Woodford  [at  Madrid]  to  make  three  demands : 

"First,  Armistice  until  Oct.  i.  Negotiations  meantime  look 
ing  for  peace  between  Spain  and  insurgents  through  friendly 
offices  of  President  United  States. 

Second,  Immediate  revocation  of  reconcentrado  order.1  .  .  . 
Add,  if  possible, 

Third,  If  terms  of  peace  not  satisfactorily  settled  by  Octo 
ber  i ,  President  of  the  United  States  to  be  final  arbiter  between 
Spain  and  insurgents.  .  .  ." 2 

Now,  what  followed  ?  On  March  3 1  the  reconcentrado  order 
was  revoked  and  a  special  credit  of  3,000,000  pesetas  put  at  the 
disposal  of  Governor-General  Blanco  to  care  for  the  homeless 
Cubans.  There  was  our  demand  number  two  promptly  complied 
with.  The  offer  to  concede  demand  number  one  was  cabled  by 

1  This  famous  order,  converting  a  large  part  of  Cuba  into  a  camp,  was 
issued  by  General  Valeriano  Weyler,  from  Havana,  February  16,  1896. 

ARTICLE  I.  All  inhabitants  of  the  district  of  ...  and  the  provinces  of  ... 
will  have  to  concentrate  in  places  which  are  the  headquarters  of  a  division  .  .  . 
within  eight  days  of  the  publication  of  this  proclamation  in  the  municipalities. 

ARTICLE  II.  To  travel  in  the  country  in  the  radius  covered  by  the  columns 
in  operation,  it  is  absolutely  indispensable  to  have  a  pass.  .  .  .  Any  one  lacking 
this  will  be  detained  and  sent  to  headquarters  of  divisions  or  brigades,  and  thence 
to  Havana,  at  my  disposition,  by  the  first  possible  means. 

ARTICLE  III.  All  owners  of  commercial  establishments  in  the  country  dis 
tricts  will  vacate  them.  .  .  . 

ARTICLE  IV.  All  passes  hitherto  issued  become  null  and  void.  —  Senate 
Documents,  Vol.  XXV,  56th  Congress,  ad  session,  Part  VII,  p.  883. 

2  House    Documents,    55th  Congress,   3d    session,   Vol.    I,    No.    i, 
pp.  711-712. 


History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

Minister  Woodford  on  April  5.  It  is  the  critical  dispatch  of  the 
whole  volume,  and  its  suppression  till  now  certainly  shows  an 
extraordinary  degree  of .  "  prudence,"  and  possibly  something 
else,  in  the  President.  We  publish  it  in  full,  and  we  ask  for  it 
the  careful  attention  of  those  clergymen  and  church  people  who 
were  driving  Congress  on  to  war. 

"  Should  the  Queen  proclaim  the  following  before  1 2  o'clock 
noon  of  Wednesday,  April  6,  will  you  sustain  the  Queen,  and 
can  you  prevent  hostile  action  by  Congress  ? 

At  the  request  of  the  Holy  Father,  in  this  Passion  Week,  and 
in  the  name  of  Christ,  I  proclaim  immediate  and  unconditional 
suspension  of  hostilities  in  the  Island  of  Cuba.  This  suspension 
is  to  become  immediately  effective,  so  soon  as  accepted  by  the  in 
surgents  in  that  island,  and  is  to  continue  for  the  space  of  six 
months,  to  the  5th  day  of  October,  1898.  I  do  this  to  give  time  for 
passions  to  cease,  and  in  the  sincere  hope  and  belief  that,  during 
this  suspension,  permanent  and  honorable  peace  may  be  obtained 
between  the  Insular  Government  of  Cuba  and  those  of  my  sub 
jects  in  that  island  who  are  now  in  rebellion  against  the  authority 
of  Spain.  .  .  . 

Please  read  this  in  the  light  of  all  my  previous  telegrams  and 
letters.  I  believe  that  this  means  peace,  which  the  sober  judg 
ment  of  our  people  will  approve  long  before  next  November, 
and  which  must  be  approved  at  the  bar  of  final  history.  ...  I 
dare  not  reject  this  last  chance  for  peace.  I  will  show  your  reply 
to  the  Queen  in  person,  and  I  believe  that  you  will  approve  this 
last  conscientious  effort  for  peace."  1 

What  could  be  more  moving,  more  pathetic,  more  like  an  un 
expected  messenger  of  peace  to  be  greeted  with  devout  thank 
fulness  by  all  Christian  hearts?  But  how  did  McKinley  greet  it? 
Why,  he  telegraphed  Minister  Woodford  that  he  "  highly  appre 
ciated  the  Queen's  desire  for  peace,"  but  that  he  could  not  "  as 
sume  to  influence  the  action  of  the  American  Congress.''  Yet, 
if  an  armistice  were  offered,  he  would  "  communicate  that  fact 
to  Congress."  2  Yes,  but  how  did  he  communicate  it  ?  Did  he 
cite  a  syllable  of  the  pious  and  exalted  language  of  the  Queen  ? 

1  House  Documents,  loc.  cit.  p.  734. "  2  Ibid.  p.  735. 


Entering  the  Twentieth  Century  549 

Did  he  explain  how  the  venerable  head  of  the  Catholic  Church 
had  exerted  himself  to  prevent  a  wicked  war?  No,  he  simply 
added  a  couple  of  vague  and  cold  paragraphs  at  the  very  end 
of  his  message.  .  .  . 

Yesterday,  and  since  the  preparation  of  the  foregoing  message, 
official  information  was  received  by  me  that  the  latest  decree  of  the 
Queen  Regent  of  Spain  directs  Gen.  Blanco,  in  order  to  prepare  and 
facilitate  peace,  to  proclaim  a  suspension  of  hostilities,  the  duration 
and  details  of  which  have  not  yet  been  communicated  to  me. 

This  fact,  with  every  other  pertinent  consideration,  will,  I  am 
sure,  have  your  just  and  careful  attention  in  the  solemn  deliberations 
upon  which  you  are  about  to  enter.  If  this  measure  attains  a  suc 
cessful  result,  then  our  aspirations  as  a  Christian,  peace-loving  people 
will  be  realized.  If  it  fails,  it  will  be  only  another  justification  for 
our  contemplated  action.1 

Congress,  of  course,  paid  not  the  slightest  attention  to  this 
perfunctory  tail-end  of  a  message,  all  the  previous  trend  and 
argument  of  which  made  for  war.  What  the  President  should 
have  done  was  to  throw  away  the  message  which  he  had  pre 
pared,  face  the  altered  situation  with  an  altered  policy,  and  go 
boldly  to  Congress  and  the  country  with  Woodford's  dispatch, 
including  the  Queen's  elevated  proclamation.  . .  .  He  could  have 
made  peace  certain.  But,  alas,  the  "  stop-watch  "  of  Congress 
was  held  on  him,  he  had  promised  his  alarmed  and  excited 
fellow-partisans  to  send  in  a  war  message  and  not  let  the  Demo 
crats  win  an  advantage,  and  so  "  this  last  conscientious  effort 
for  peace,"  as  Minister  Woodford  called  it,  this  grandest  oppor 
tunity  that  ever  came  to  a  Christian  President,  was  miserably 
neglected,  and  the  war  ensued.  .  .  . 

Dewey's  splendid  victory  in  Manila  Bay  on  May  I, 
1898,  and  the  occupation  of  Manila  by  the  American 
troops  on  August  13,  put  an  end  to  Spain's  power  in 
the  Philippines.  Dewey  telegraphed  to  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  October  14,  1898,  as  follows  : 

1  J.  D.  Richardson,  ed.  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents, 
Vol.  X,  p.  150. 


55°      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

It  is  important  that  the  disposition  of  the  Philippine  Islands 
should  be  decided  as  soon  as  possible  a'nd  a  strong  government 
established.  .  .  .  General  anarchy  prevails  without  the  limits  of 
the  city  and  bay  of  Manila.  Strongly  probable  that  islands  to 
the  South  will  fall  into  the  same  state  soon.  .  .  .  The  natives 
appear  unable  to  govern.  Dewey  1 

Secretary  Hay  communicated  this  telegram  to  the  five 
American  peace  commissioners  at  Paris.  On  October  25 
the  commissioners  telegraphed  to  Secretary  Hay  their 
opinions  concerning  the  retention  of  the  Philippines. 
Three  of  the  commissioners  were  for  holding  all  the 
islands ;  the  chairman,  Mr.  Day,  would  hold  Luzon 
alone ;  and  Senator  Gray  of  Delaware  was  opposed  to 
holding  any  of  the  islands.  Senator  Gray  said  : 

The  undersigned  cannot  agree  that  it  is  wise  to  take  Philip 
pines  in  whole  or  in  part.  To  do  so  would  be  to  reverse  ac 
cepted  continental  policy  of  country,  declared  and  acted  upon 
throughout  our  history.  Propinquity  governs  case  of  Cuba  and 
Puerto  Rico.  Policy  proposed  introduces  us  into  European  poli 
tics  and  the  entangling  alliances  against  which  Washington  and 
all  American  statesmen  have  protested.  It  will  make  necessary 
a  navy  equal  to  the  largest  of  powers,  a  greatly  increased  mili 
tary  establishment,  immense  sums  for  fortifications  and  harbors, 
multiplied  occasions  for  dangerous  complications  with  foreign 
nations,  and  increase  burdens  of  taxation.  Will  receive  in  com 
pensation  no  outlet  for  American  labor  in  labor  market  already 
overcrowded  and  cheap,  no  area  for  homes  for  American  citi 
zens —  climate  and  social  conditions  demoralizing  to  character 
of  American  youth.  New  and  disturbing  questions  introduced 
into  our  politics,  church  question  menacing.  On  the  whole, 
instead  of  indemnity  —  injury.  Undersigned  cannot  agree  that 
any  obligation  incurred  to  insurgents  is  paramount  to  our  mani 
fest  interests.  Attacked  Manila  as  part  of  legitimate  war  against 
Spain.  If  we  had  captured  Cadiz  and  Carlists  had  helped  us, 

1  House  Documents,  55th  Congress,  3d  session,  Vol.  I,  No.  i,  p.  928. 


Entering  the  Twentieth  Century  5  5 1 

we  should  not  owe  duty  to  stay  by  them  at  close  of  war.  On 
contrary,  interest  and  duty  would  require  us  to  abandon  both 
Manila  and  Cadiz.  No  place  for  colonial  administration  or 
government  of  subject  people  in  American  system. 

So  much  from  standpoint  of  interest.  But  even  conceding 
all  benefits  claimed  for  annexation,  we  thereby  abandon  the  in 
finitely  greater  benefit  to  accrue  from  acting  the  part  of  a  great, 
powerful,  and  Christian  nation ;  we  exchange  the  moral  gran 
deur  and  strength  to  be  gained  by  keeping  our  word  to  nations 
of  the  world  and  by  exhibiting  a  magnanimity  and  moderation 
in  the  hour  of  victory  that  became  the  advanced  civilization  we 
claim,  for  doubtful  material  advantages  and  shameful  stepping 
down  from  high  moral  position  boastfully  assumed.  We  should 
set  example  in  these  respects,  not  follow  in  the  selfish  and  vul 
gar  greed  for  territory  which  Europe  has  inherited  from  mediae 
val  times.  Our  declaration  of  war  upon  Spain  was  accompanied 
by  a  solemn  and  deliberate  declaration  of  our  purpose.  Now 
that  we  have  achieved  all  and  more  than  our  object,  let  us  simply 
keep  our  word.  ...  At  the  very  least,  let  us  adhere  to  Presi 
dent's  instructions,  and  if  conditions  require  the  keeping  of 
Luzon  forego  the  material  advantages  claimed  in  annexing  other 
islands  — above  all,  let  us  not  make  a  mockery  of  the  injunction 
contained  in  those  instructions,  where,  after  stating  that  "  we 
took  up  arms  only  in  obedience  to  the  dictates  of  humanity  and 
in  the  fulfillment  of  high  public  and  moral  obligations,"  and  that 
"  we  had  no  design  of  aggrandizement  and  no  ambition  of  con 
quest,"  the  President,  among  other  things,  eloquently  says:  "It 
is  my  earnest  wish  that  the  United  States  in  making  peace 
should  follow  the  same  high  rule  of  conduct  which  guided  it  in 
facing  war.  It  should  be  as  scrupulous  and  magnanimous  in  the 
concluding  settlement  as  it  was  just  and  human  in  its  original 
action."  This  and  more,  of  which  I  earnestly  ask  a  reperusal, 
binds  my  conscience  and  governs  my  action. 

[Signed]  George  Gray 

The  most  scathing  condemnation  of  the  imperialistic 
policy  was  voiced  by  Mr.  Moorfield  Storey,  a  distinguished 
Boston  lawyer,  President  of  the  American  Bar  Association 


552       History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

and  later  President  of  the  Anti-Imperialist  League,  in  a 
speech  before  the  Bar  Association  of  South  Carolina  at 
Columbia,  June  16,  1903,  entitled,  "What  shall  we  do 
with  our  Dependencies  ?  " 

Our  country  today  exercises  absolute  power  over  more  than 
10,000,000  of  human  beings  —  Filipinos,  Porto  Ricans,  Hawai- 
ians  —  twice  as  many  as  the  whole  population  of  the  United 
States  a  century  ago.  Our  dominion  has  been  established  with 
out  consulting  them,  and  against  such  resistance  as  they  could 
make.  They  are  not  American  citizens,  nor  are  they  likely  to 
become  such.  They  are  governed  by  the  President  and  Congress, 
but  they  have  no  voice  in  the  choice  of  either.  They  have  no 
recognized  rights  under  our  Constitution ;  and  if  the  President 
by  executive  order  or  Congress  by  statute  has  granted  to  them 
any  of  the  rights  secured  by  the  Constitution  to  all  American 
citizens,  they  are  merely  privileges,  which  may  be  recalled  at 
pleasure  by  a  new  order  or  a  new  statute.  ...  In  a  word,  no 
part  of  the  government  under  which  they  live  derives  its  powers 
from  their  consent.  They  are  merely  subjects  of  the  United 
States,  as  absolutely  without  political  rights  as  if  they  were 
subjects  of  Spain.1 

The  question  which  now  confronts  the  American  people, 
never  to  be  settled  "  till  it  is  settled  right,"  is  whether  these 
conditions  shall  continue.  What  shall  be  our  permanent  policy 
toward  these  dependent  peoples  ?  No  more  important  question 
ever  engaged  our  attention  ;  and  we  should  consider  it  carefully 
and  dispassionately,  as  Americans,  and  not  as  Republicans  or 
Democrats,  for  we  must  all  suffer  alike  the  consequences  of  any 
mistake.  .  .  .  Above  all,  we  must  dare  to  look  truth  in  the  face. 
We  gain  nothing  by  deceiving  ourselves.  We  cannot  change  the 
facts  by  refusing  to  see  or  hear  them,  nor  will  any  misrepresen 
tation  of  ours  bend  the  laws  which  govern  mankind  and  attach 
to  our  actions  their  inevitable  consequences.  If  we  cannot 

1  The  grant  of  a  national  assembly  to  the  Philippines  a  few  years  after 
Mr.  Storey's  address  somewhat  modified  the  conditions  which  he  con 
demns  here  so  absolutely.  See  Muzzey,  An  American  History,  p.  459. 


Entering  the  Twentieth  Century  553 

justify  what  we  have  done  and  what  we  propose,  let  us  at  least 
be  brave  enough  to  admit  it.  ... 

Disguise  it  as  we  will,  the  claim  of  one  people  that  it  is 
superior  to  and  therefore  entitled  to  rule  another  rests  upon  no 
better  moral  foundation  than  the  heathen  maxim,  "  Might  makes 
right."  ...  If  we  concede  that  a  civilized  nation  has  the  right 
to  govern  any  people  who  are  unfit  to  govern  themselves,  who 
shall  decide  that  such  unfitness  exists  ?  Can  the  decision  safely 
be  left  to  the  stronger  nation  ?  Shall  it  be  made  by  men  who 
know  nothing  of  the  weaker  people,  who  have  never  visited 
their  country,  who  do  not  understand  their  language,  their 
traditions,  their  character,  or  their  needs  ?  Shall  it  be  made 
without  hearing  their  representatives  and  learning  all  they  can 
tell  about  their  countrymen  ?  Can  we  be  sure  that  the  judgment 
of  the  strong  is  not  affected  by  appeals  to  national  vanity,  by 
apostrophes  to  the  flag,  by  hopes  of  commercial  advantage, 
by  dreams  of  world  power,  by  the  exigencies  of  party  politics, 
by  personal  ambitions  .  .  .  ? 

By  what  standards  is  inferiority  to  be  measured  ?  .  .  .  Does 
it  not  seem  the  height  of  presumption  for  us,  in  our  ignorance, 
to  claim  that  brown  men  are  necessarily  our  inferiors,  or  that 
Asiatics,  whose  ideas  govern  the  moral  world,  cannot  govern 
themselves  ?  Said  James  Russell  Lowell :  "  When  the  moral 
vision  of  a  man  becomes  perverted  enough  to  persuade  him 
that  he  is  superior  to  his  fellow,  he  is  in  reality  looking  up  at 
him  from  an  immeasurable  distance  beneath." 

Let  us  proceed  to  a  more  important  inquiry.  If  our  new 
subjects  cannot  give  themselves  what  we  think  a  good  govern 
ment,  are  we  likely  to  give  them  a  better?  Or  is  President 
Schurman  right  in  saying,  "  Any  decent  government  of  the 
Filipinos  by  the  Filipinos  is  better  than  the  best  possible  gov 
ernment  of  Filipinos  by  Americans."  Let  us  consider  this 
question,  bearing  in  mind  certain  fundamental  principles. 

First.  Every  government  should  exist  solely  for  the  benefit 
of  the  governed.  .  .  . 

Second.  The  object  of  every  government  should  be  to  edu 
cate,  develop,  and  elevate  the  people  ...  not  to  develop  mines, 


554       History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

increase  commerce,  and  add  to  the  world's  wealth  without  regard 
to  the  people. 

Third.  In  order  to  develop  a  people,  their  rulers  must  under 
stand  them  and  believe  in  them.  ...  If  a  ruler  feels  contempt 
for  his  subjects,  there  is  a  mutual  repulsion.  .  .  . 

Finally.  Human  experience  has  amply  proved  that  no  man 
can  safely  be  trusted  with  absolute  power.  The  struggle  of 
men  for  freedom  has  ever  been  an  attempt  to  create  "  a  gov 
ernment  of  laws,  and  not  of  men."  .  .  . 

But  \fr e  are  confidently  told  that  we  have  succeeded  already. 
.  .  .  Let  us  concede  the  triumph  of  our  arms ;  but  where  shall 
we  look  for  the  triumph  of  our  principles  and  our  laws  ?  .  .  . 
'We  have  destroyed  a  large  part  of  the  Filipino  people.  General 
Bell  said  that  in  two  years  before  May,  1901,  "  one  sixth  of  the 
natives  of  Luzon  have  either  been  killed  or  had  died  of  dengue 
fever."  .  .  .  We  have  laid  waste  their  fields,  we  have  destroyed 
both  crops  and  cultivators,  we  have  burned  villages  and  towns, 
leaving  the  people  homeless,  we  have  adopted  the  reconcentra- 
tion  policy  of  General  Weyler,  and  have  borrowed  mediaeval 
tortures  from  Spain,  in  order  to  aid  our  policy  of  conquest.  .  .  . 
We  found  7,000,000  of  people  friendly  and  prosperous.  We 
have  reduced  them  to  straits  like  these.  We  have  destroyed 
more  Filipino  life  and  property  in  four  years  than  Spain  in  her 
centuries  of  rule.  Is  this  success  ? 

We  have  sent  to  the  islands  nearly  125,000  of  our  citizens, 
many  of  whom  have  been  killed,  many  more  disabled  by  wounds 
and  disease,  many  made  insane,  and  a  very  large  number  so 
demoralized  as  to  regard  torture,  reconcentration,  and  the 
slaughter  of  prisoners  and  non-combatants  as  right!  Is  this 
success  ? 

We  have  spent  hundreds  of  millions,  drawn  from  the  taxes 
of  the  people,  on  this  war :  and  the  end  is  not  yet.  ...  Is  this 
success  ? 

We  have  stricken  down  the  first  republican  government  ever 
established  in  Asia,  and  have  turned  millions  of  cordial  friends 
into  bitter  enemies.  Is  this  success  ? 

Finally,  we  have  abandoned  the  ideals  and  principles  of 
liberty  which  we  have  cherished  from  our  birth,  and  have 


Entering  the  Twentieth  Century  555 

adopted  the  principles  and  practices  of  tyranny,  which  we  have 
always  condemned.    Again  I  ask,  Is  this  success  ? 

We  have  proved  abundantly  the  truth  of  Lincoln's  words: 
"  No  man 's  good  enough  to  govern  another  without  that  other's 
consent."  .  .  . 

What  do  we  gain  ?  Commercial  expansion.  If  the  whole 
commerce  of  the  Orient  were  offered  us  at  such  a  price,  had 
we  the  right  to  pay  it  ?  .  / . 

No,  our  policy  has  not  succeeded.  It  has  failed,  and  its  failure 
is  written  in  blood  on  every  fold  of  the  flag  which  we  loved  to 
call  "  the  flag  of  the  free."  It  is  written  on  the  fresh  graves, 
the  ruined  homes,  and  the  barren  fields  of  the  conquered  islands. 
It  is  written  in  the  sullen  hearts  of  the  Filipinos,  who  cannot  but 
remember  our  cruelties,  and,  in  the  President's  own  words,  "  will 
for  centuries  remain  alien  and  hostile  to  the  conquerors."  It  is 
written  also  in  the  hardened  hearts  of  our  countrymen,  who 
have  forgotten  their  ideals  and  have  learned  to  tolerate  and  to 
approve  what  they  have  always  execrated.  .  .  . 

When  Guizot  asked  Lowell  how  long  our  republic  would  last, 
he  replied,  "  As  long  as  the  ideas  of  the  men  who  founded  it 
continue  dominant"  .  .  .  We  cannot  destroy  the  ideals  of  the 
nation ;  we  cannot  insist  that  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
is  wrong ;  we  cannot  govern  millions  of  men  outside  the  Con 
stitution  ;  we  cannot  hold  a  single  Filipino,  like  Mabini,  a  pris 
oner  without  trial  or  sentence,  —  and  hope  to  preserve  in  full 
strength  that  faith  in  the  equal  rights  of  man  which  is  the  soul 
of  this  nation.  .  .  . 

The  time  will  come,  if  this  republic  is  to  endure,  when  an 
overwhelming  public  sentiment  will  make  itself  felt,  and  we  shall 
do  what  every  true  American  in  his  heart  would  like  to  have  his 
country  do  —  give  the  Filipinos  their  freedom,  and  thus  regain 
that  [proud  position  among  the  nations  of  the  world  which  we 
have  lost,  the  moral  leadership  of  mankind,  becoming  again  .  .  . 
the  great  nation  .  .  .  beneath  whose  flag,  wherever  it  floats  in 
this  wide  world,  there  is  no  room  for  a  subject,  but  a  sure  refuge 
for  every  man  who  desires  that  freedom  which  is  the  birthright 
of  every  human  being. 


556      History  of  the  Repiiblic  since  the  Civil  War 

THE  ROOSEVELT  POLICIES 

17.  The  The  following  text  of  the  convention  of  1903  between 

rariiiaUn       tne  United  States  and  the  new  Republic  of  Panama  for 
^reaty,          ^e  construction  of  a  ship  canal  through  the  Isthmus  is 

November  18, 

903  taken  from  W.  M.  Malloy's  "  Treaties,  Conventions,  In- 

[475]  ternational  Acts,  Protocols,  and  Agreements  between  the 
United  States  and  Other  Powers,"  a  compilation,  in  two 
large  volumes,  made  in  accordance  with  a  resolution  of 
the  Senate,  January  18,  1909.  The  Hay-Bunau-Varilla 
Treaty  was  ratified  and  proclaimed  in  February,  1904.  In 
May,  1904,  the  "  dirt  began  to  fly  "  at  Panama.  Almost  ex 
actly  ten  years  later  the  first  ship  passed  through  the  Canal. 

The  United  States  of  America  and  the  Republic  of  Panama 
being  desirous  to  insure  the  construction  of  a  ship  canal  across 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama  to  connect  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
Oceans,  and  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  of  America 
having  passed  an  act  approved  June  28,  1902,  in  furtherance 
of  that  object,  by  which  the  President  of  the  United  States  is 
authorized  to  acquire  within  a  reasonable  time  the  control  of  the 
necessary  territory  of  the  Republic  of  Colombia,  and  the  sov 
ereignty  of  such  territory  being  actually  vested  in  the  Republic 
of  Panama,  the  high  contracting  parties  have  resolved  for 
that  purpose  to  conclude  a  convention  and  have  accordingly 
appointed  as  their  plenipotentiaries,  — 

The  President  of  the  United  States,  John  Hay,  Secretary  of 
State,  and 

The  Government  of  the  Republic  of  Panama,  Philippe  Bunau- 
Varilla,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of 
the  Republic  of  Panama,  thereunto  especially  empowered  by 
said  government:  who  after  communicating  with  each  other 
their  respective  full  powers,  found  to  be  in  good  and  due  form, 
have  agreed  upon  and  concluded  the  following  articles. 

ARTICLE  I.  The  United  States  guarantees  and  will  maintain 
the  independence  of  the  Republic  of  Panama. 


Entering  the  Twentieth  Century  557 

ARTICLE  II.  The  Republic  of  Panama  grants  to  the  United 
States  in  perpetuity  the  use,  occupation  and  control  of  a  zone 
of  land  and  land  under  water  for  the  construction,  maintenance, 
operation,  sanitation  and  protection  of  said  Canal,  of  the  width 
of  ten  miles  extending  to  the  distance  of  five  miles  on  each  side 
of  the  center  line  of  the  route  of  Canal  to  be  constructed  .  .  . 
with  the  proviso  that  the  cities  of  Panama  and  Colon  and  the 
harbors  adjacent  to  said  cities  .  .  .  shall  not  be  included  within 
this  grant  [see  Article  VII] 

ARTICLE  V.  The  Republic  of  Panama  grants  to  the  United 
States  in  perpetuity  a  monopoly  for  the  construction,  mainte 
nance,  and  operation  of  any  system  of  communication  by  means 
of  canal  or  railroad  across  its  territory  between  the  Caribbean 
Sea  and  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

ARTICLE  VI.  The  grants  herein  contained  shall  in  no  manner 
invalidate  the  titles  or  rights  of  private  landholders  or  owners 
of  private  property  in  the  said  zone.  .  .  .  All  damages  caused 
to  the  owners  of  private  lands  or  private  property  of  any  kind 
by  reason  of  the  grants  contained  in  this  treaty  or  by  reason  of 
the  operations  of  the  United  States  .  .  .  shall  be  appraised  and' 
settled  by  a  joint  Commission  appointed  by  the  governments 
of  the  United  States  and  the  Republic  of  Panama,  whose  deci 
sions  as  to  such  damages  shall  be  final,  and  whose  awards  as  to 
such  damages  shall  be  paid  solely  by  the  United  States.  .  . .  The 
appraisal  of  such  private  lands  and  private  property  and  the 
assessment  of  damages  to  them  shall  be  based  upon  their  value 
before  the  date  of  this  convention. 

ARTICLE  VII.  The  Republic  of  Panama  grants  to  the  United 
States  within  the  limits  of  the  cities  of  Panama  and  Colon  and 
their  adjacent  harbors  and  within  the  territory  adjacent  thereto 
the  right  to  acquire  by  purchase  or  by  the  exercise  of  the  right 
of  eminent  domain,  any  lands,  buildings,  water  rights  or  other 
properties  necessary  and  convenient  for  the  construction  ...  of 
the  Canal,  and  of  any  works  of  sanitation,  such  as  the  collection 
and  disposition  of  sewage  and  the  distribution  of  water  in  the 
said  cities  of.  Panama  and  Colon.  ...  All  such  works  of  sanita 
tion  .  .  .  shall  be  made  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  .  .  shall  be  authorized  to 


558       History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

impose  and  collect  water  rates  and  sewerage  rates  which  shall 
be  sufficient  to  provide  for  the  payment  of  interest  and  the 
amortization  of  the  principal  of  the  cost  of  said  works  within  a 
period  of  fifty  years,  and  upon  the  expiration  of  said  term  of 
fifty  years  the  system  of  sewers  and  water  works  shall  revert 
to  and  become  the  properties  of  the  cities  of  Panama  and  Colon 
respectively.  .  . .  The  Republic  of  Panama  agrees  that  the  cities 
of  Panama  and  Colon  shall  comply  in  perpetuity  with  the  sani 
tary  ordinances  whether  of  a  preventive  or  curative  character 
prescribed  by  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

ARTICLE  IX.  The  United  States  agrees  that  the  ports  at 
either  entrance  of  the  Canal  and  the  waters  thereof,  and  the 
Republic  of  Panama  agrees  that  the  towns  of  Panama  and 
Colon  shall  be  free  for  all  time,  so  that  there  shall  not  be  im 
posed  or  collected  custom  house  tolls,  tonnage  ...  or  taxes  of 
any  kind  upon  any  vessel  using  or  passing  through  the  Canal 
.  .  .  except  such  tolls  and  charges  as  may  be  imposed  by  the 
United  States  for  the  use  of  the  Canal.  .  .  .  The  United  States 
shall  have  the  right  to  make  use  of  the  towns  and  harbors  of 
Panama  and  Colon  as  places  of  anchorage,  and  for  making  re 
pairs,  for  loading,  unloading,  depositing,  or  transshipping  cargoes 
either  in  transit  or  destined  for  the  service  of  the  Canal.  .  „  . 

ARTICLE  X.  The  Republic  of  Panama  agrees  that  there  shall 
not  be  imposed  any  taxes  national,  municipal,  departmental  or 
of  any  other  class  upon  the  Canal  ...  or  railroad  and  auxiliary 
works,  or  their  officers  or  employees  situated  within  the  cities 
of  Panama  and  Colon.  .  .  . 

ARTICLE  XI.  The  United  States  agrees  that  the  official  dis 
patches  of  the  Government  of  the  Republic  of  Panama  shall  be 
transmitted  over  any  telegraph  and  telephone  lines  established 
for  Canal  purposes  and  used  for  public  and  private  business  at 
rates  not  higher  than  those  required  from  officials  in  the  service 
of  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

ARTICLE  XIV.  As  the  price  or  compensation  for  the  rights, 
powers  and  privileges  granted  in  this  convention  by  the  Repub 
lic  of  Panama  . .  .  the  Government  of  the  United  States  agrees 
to  pay  to  the  Republic  of  Panama  the  sum  of  ten  million  dollars 
($10,000,000)  in  £rold  coin  of  the  United  States  on  the  exchange 


Entering  the  Twentieth  Century  559 

of  the  ratification  of  this  convention  and  also  an  annual  pay 
ment  during  the  life  of  this  convention  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars  ($250,000)  in  like  gold  coin,  beginning  nine 
years  after  the  date  aforesaid.  .  .  . 

ARTICLE  XVI.  The  two  Governments  shall  make  adequate 
provision  by  future  agreement  for  the  pursuit,  capture,  imprison 
ment,  detention,  and  delivery  within  said  zone  and  auxiliary  lands 
to  the  authorities  of  the  Republic  of  Panama  of  persons  charged 
with  ^he  commitment  of  crimes,  felonies  or  misdemeanors  with 
out  said  zone  [and  vice  versa].  .  .  .* 

ARTICLE  XVIII.  The  Canal,  when  constructed,  and  the  en 
trances  thereto  shall  be  neutral  in  perpetuity,  and  shall  be  opened 
upon  the  terms  provided  for  by  Section  I  of  Article  III  ...  of 
the  treaty  entered  into  by  the  Governments  of  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain  on  November  18,  igoi.2 

ARTICLE  XIX.  The  Government  of  the  Republic  of  Panama 
shall  have  the  right  to  transport  over  the  Canal  its  vessels  and 
its  troops  and  munitions  of  war  in  such  vessels  at  all  times 
without  paying  charges  of  any  kind.  .  .  . 

ARTICLE  XXIII.  If  it  should  become  necessary  at  any  time 
to  employ  armed  forces  for  the  safety  or  protection  of  the 
Canal  ...  the  United  States  shall  have  the  right,  at  all  times 
and  in  its  discretion,  to  use  its  police  and  its  land  and  naval 
forces  or  to  establish  fortifications  for  these  purposes.  .  .  . 

1  An  extradition  treaty  in  twelve  articles  was  concluded   May  25, 
1904,  between  W.  W.  Russell,  our  charge  d'affaires  in  Panama,  and 
Tomas  Arias,  secretary  of  the  Panama  government.    It  may  be  found 
in  Malloy's  "Treaties,  Conventions,"  etc.,  Vol.  II,  pp.  1357-1361. 

2  The  Hay-Pauncefote  Treaty,  rescinding  the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty 
of  1850.    The  section  in  question  reads :  "  The  Canal  shall  be  free  and 
open  to  the  vessels  of  commerce  and  of  war  of  all  nations  observing 
these  Rules,  on  terms  of  entire  equality,  so  that  there  shall  be  no  dis 
crimination  against   any  such  nation,  or   its    citizens   or  subjects,   in 
respect  of  the  conditions  or  charges  of  traffic  or  otherwise.    Such  con 
ditions  and  charges  of  traffic  shall  be  just  and  equitable  "  (Malloy,  Trea 
ties  .  .  .  and  Agreements  between  the  United  States  and  Other  Powers, 
Vol.  I,  p.  783).   It  was  in  obedience  to  what  he  believed  our  pledged 
duty  in  this  section  that  President  Wilson  secured  from  Congress  in 
1914  the  repeal  of  the  law  of  1912  exempting  United  States  vessels 
from  toll  charges  when  using  the  Canal  in  their  coasting  trade. 


560      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

ARTICLE  XXVI.  This  convention  when  signed  by  the  Pleni 
potentiaries  of  the  Contracting  Parties  shall  be  ratified  by  the 
respective  Governments  and  the  ratifications  shall  be  exchanged 
at  Washington  at  the  earliest  date  possible.  .  .  . 

Done  at  the  city  of  Washington  the  i8th  day  of  November 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  nineteen  hundred  and  three. 

JOHN  HAY  [seal] 
P.  BUNAU-VARILLA  [seal] 

§ 
us.  Roose-        As  early  as  March,  1891,  Congress  had  passed  a  Con- 

velt's  speech  .          .  ... 

to  the  gov-     servation  Act  authorizing  the  President  to  withdraw  from 

i  i  08  entry  for  Public  sale  such  tracts  °f  forest  lands  as  he  saw 
fit,  and  Harrison,  Cleveland,  and  McKinley  had  all  availed 
themselves  to  some  extent  of  this  authorization.  But 
Theodore  Roosevelt  was  the  first  president  to  interest  him 
self  heartily  and  continuously  in  the  policy  of  the  conserva- 
.  tion  of  our  national  resources.  Addressing  the  Society  of 
American  Foresters  on  March  26,  1903,  he  said : 

Your  attention  must  be  directed  to  the  preservation  of  the 
forests,  not  as  an  end  in  itself,  but  as  a  means  of  preserving 
the  prosperity  of  the  Nation.  ...  In  the  arid  regions  of  the 
West  agriculture  depends  first  of  all  upon  the  available  water 
supply.  In  such  a  region  forest  protection  alone  can  maintain 
the  stream  flow  necessary  for  irrigation,  and  can  prevent  the 
great  and  destructive  floods  so  ruinous  to  communities  farther 
down  the  same  streams.1 

A  little  later  he  appointed  an  Inland  Waterways  Commis 
sion  at  the  suggestion  of  Gifford  Pinchot,  chief  of  the 
National  Forest  Service.  While  engaged  on  a  trip  of  inspec 
tion  down  the  Mississippi  River,  from  St.  Paul  to  Memphis, 
October  1-4,  1907,  this  commission  conceived  the  plan 
which  was  expressed  to  the  President  in  the  following  letter : 

1  Proceedings  of  a  Conference  of  Governors  in  the  White  House, 
1908,  p.  v .  Washington,  Government  Printing  Office,  1909. 


Entering  the  Twentieth  Century  561 

Oct.  3,  1907 

The  President 

On  board  the  U.S.  Steamer  Mississippi. 

Sir :  In  the  course  of  inquiries  made  under  your  direction 
"  that  the  Inland  Waterways  Commission  shall  consider  the 
relations  of  the  streams  to  the  use  of  all  the  great  permanent 
natural  resources  and  their  conservation  for  the  making  and 
maintenance  of  prosperous  homes,"  the  members  of  the  Com 
mission  have  been  led  to  feel  that  it  would  be  desirable  to  hold 
a  Conference  on  the  general  subject  of  the  conservation  of  the 
natural  resources  of  the  Nation.  Among  the  reasons  for  such 
a  Conference  are  the  following  : 

1.  Hitherto  our  National  policy  has  been  one  of  almost  un 
restricted  disposal  of  natural  resources,  and  this  in  more  lavish 
measure  than  in  any  other  nation  in  the  world's  history ;  and 
this  policy  of  the   Federal  Government  has  been  shared  by 
the  constituent  States.   Three  consequences  have  ensued  :  First, 
unprecedented  consumption  of  natural  resources;  second,  ex 
haustion  of  these  resources  to  the  extent  that  a  large  part  of 
our  available  public  lands  have  passed  into  great  estates  or  cor 
porate  interests,  our  forests  are  so  depleted  as  to  multiply  the 
cost  of  forest  products,  and  our  supplies  of  coal  and  iron  ore 
are  so  far  reduced  as  to  enhance  prices ;  and  third,  unequalled 
opportunity  for  private  monopoly,  to  the  extent  that  both  the 
Federal  and  the  State  sovereignties  have  been  compelled  to 
enact  laws  for  the  protection  of  the  People. 

2.  We  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  time  has  come  for  consid 
ering  the  policy  of  conserving  these  material  resources  on  which 
the  permanent  prosperity  of  our  country  and  the  equal  oppor 
tunity  of  all  our  People  must  depend ;  we  are  also  of  opinion 
that  the  policy  of  conservation  is  so  marked  an  advance  on  that 
policy   adopted   at   the  outset  of   our    National   career  as  to 
demand  the  consideration  of  both  Federal  and  State  sponsors 
for  the  welfare  of  the  People. 

3.  We  are  of  opinion  that  the  Conference  may  best  be  held 
in  the  National  Capital  next  winter,  and  that  the  conferees  should 
C9mprise  the  Governors  of  all  our  States  and  Territories,  a 
limited  number  of  delegates  to  be  appointed  by  each  Governor, 


562       History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

and  representatives  from  leading  organizations  of  both  State 
and  National  scope,  engaged  in  dealing  with  National  resources 
or  with  practical  questions  relating  thereto. 

We  have  the  honor  to  ask  that  in  case  you  concur  in  our 
view  you  call  such  a  Conference. 

Respectfully  submitted 

Theodore  E.  Burton,  Chairman 
W.  J.  McGee,  Secretary 

The  President,  in  heartiest  accord  with  the  proposition, 
invited  the  governors  of  the  states,  each  accompanied  by 
three  select  citizens,  to  meet  with  the  senators  and  repre 
sentatives  of  the  sixtieth  Congress,  the  justices  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  the  members  of  the  cabinet  at  the 
White  House,  May  13-15,  1908,  to  discuss  the  best  method 
of  conserving  our  national  resources.  The  governors  of 
thirty-eight  states  and  territories,  with  their  companions, 
and  over  a  hundred  specially  invited  guests  attended  the 
conference.  President  Roosevelt  delivered  the  following 
speech  at  the  opening  session,  May  13,  1908  : 

GOVERNORS  OF  THE  SEVERAL  STATES,  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

I  welcome  you  to  this  Conference  at  the  White  House.  You 
have  come  hither  at  my  request,  so  that  we  may  join  together 
to  consider  the  question  of  the  conservation  and  use  of  the 
great  fundamental  sources  of  wealth  of  this  Nation. 

So  vital  is  this  question,  that  for  the  first  time  in  our  history 
the  chief  executive  officers  of  the  States  separately,  and  of  the 
States  together  forming  the  Nation,  have  met  to  consider  it.  It 
is  the  chief  material  question  that  confronts  us,  second  only  — 
and  second  always  —  to  the  great  fundamental  questions  of 
morality.  .  .  . 

This  Conference  on  the  conservation  of  natural  resources  is 
in  effect  a  meeting  of  the  representatives  of  all  the  people  of 
the  United  States  called  to  consider  the  weightiest  problem  now 
before  the  Nation ;  and  the  occasion  for  the  meeting  lies  in  the 
fact  that  the  natural  resources  of  our  country  are  in  danger  of 


Entering  the  Twentieth  Century  563 

exhaustion  if  we  permit  the  old  wasteful  methods  of  exploiting 
them  longer  to  continue.  .  .  . 

In  the  development,  the  use,  and  therefore  the  exhaustion  of 
certain  of  the  natural  resources,  the  progress  has  been  more 
rapid  in  the  last  century  and  a  quarter  than  during  all  preceding 
time  of  which  we  have  record. 

When  the  founders  of  this  nation  met  at  Independence  Hall 
in  Philadelphia  the  conditions  of  commerce  had  not  fundamen 
tally  changed  from  what  they  were  when  the  Phoenician  keels 
first  furrowed  the  lonely  waters  of  the  Mediterranean.. .  .  .  Min 
ing  was  carried  on  fundamentally  as  it  had  been  carried  on  by 
the  Pharaohs  in  the  countries  adjacent  to  the  Red  Sea.  ...  In 
1776  the  wares  of  the  merchants  of  Boston,  of  Charleston,  like 
the  wares  of  the  merchants  of  Nineveh  and  Sidon,  if  they  went 
by  water,  were  carried  by  boats  propelled  by  sails  or  oars ;  if 
they  went  by  land,  were  carried  in  wagons  drawn  by  beasts  of 
draft  or  in  packs  on  the  backs  of  beasts  of  burden.  ...  In 
Washington's  time  anthracite  coal  was  known  only  as  a  useless 
black  stone ;  and  the  great  fields  of  bituminous  coal  were  undis 
covered.  .  .  .  But  a  few  small  iron  deposits  had  been  found  in 
this  country,  and  the  use  of  iron  by  our  countrymen  was  very 
small.  .  .  .  The  forests  were  regarded  chiefly  as  obstructions  to 
settlement  and  cultivation.  The  man  who  cut  down  a  tree  was 
held  to  have  conferred  a  service  on  his  fellows.  ...  It  is  almost 
impossible  for  us  in  this  day  to  realize  how  little  our  Revolu 
tionary  ancestors  knew  of  the  great  store  of  natural  resources 
whose  discovery  and  use  have  been  such  vital  factors  in  the 
growth  and  greatness  of  this  Nation,  and  how  little  they  needed 
to  take  from  this  store  in  order  to  satisfy  their  needs. 

Since  then  our  knowledge  and  use  of  the  present  territory 
of  the  United  States  have  increased  a  hundred-fold.  .  .  .  Our 
growth  has  been  due  to  the  rapid  development,  and  alas  that  it 
should  be  said  !  to  the  rapid  destruction,  of  our  natural  resources. 
Nature  tias  supplied  to  us  in  the  United  States,  and  still  sup 
plies  to  us,  more  kinds  of  resources  in  a  more  lavish  degree 
than  has  ever  been  the  case  at  any  other  time  or  with  any  other 
people.  Our  position  in  the  world  has  been  attained  by  the 
extent  and  thoroughness  of  the  control  we  have  achieved  over 


564      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

nature ;  but  we  are  more,  and  not  less,  dependent  upon  what 
she  furnishes  than  at  any  previous  time  of  history  since  the 
days  of  primitive  man.  .  .  .  We  want  to  take  action  that  will 
prevent  the  advent  of  a  woodless  age,  and  defer  as  long  as 
possible  the  advent  of  an  ironless  age.  .  .  . 

This  Nation  began  with  the  belief  that  its  landed  possessions 
were  illimitable  and  capable  of  supporting  all  the  people  who 
might  care  to  make  our  country  their  home ;  but  already  the 
limit  of  unsettled  land  is  in  sight,  and  indeed  but  little  land  fitted 
for  agriculture  now  remains  unoccupied  save  what  can  be  re 
claimed  by  irrigation  and  drainage  —  a  subject  with  which  this 
Conference  is  partly  to  deal.  We  began  with  an  unapproached 
heritage  of  forests :  more  than  half  of  the  timber  is  gone.  We 
began  with  coal  fields  more  extensive  than  those  of  any  other 
nation  and  with  iron  ores  regarded  as  inexhaustible,  and  many 
experts  now  declare  that  the  end  of  both  iron  and  coal  is 
in  sight. 

The  mere  increase  in  our  consumption  of  coal  during  1907 
over  1906  exceeded  the  total  consumption  in  1876,  the  Centen 
nial  year  .  .  .  and  we  thought  we  were  pretty  busy  people  even 
then.  The  enormous  stores  of  mineral  oil  and  gas  are  largely 
gone.  .  .  .  Our  natural  waterways  are  not  gone,  but  they  have 
been  so  injured  by  neglect  .  .  .  that  there  is  less  navigation  on 
them  now  than  there  was  fifty  years  ago.  Finally,  we  began 
with  soils  of  unexampled  fertility,  and  we  have  so  impoverished 
them  by  injudicious  use  and  by  failing  to  check  erosion,  that 
their  crop-producing  power  is  diminishing  instead  of  increasing. 
In  a  word,  we  have  thoughtlessly,  and  to  a  large  degree  un 
necessarily,  diminished  the  resources  upon  which  not  only  our 
prosperity  but  the  prosperity  of  our  children  and  our  children's 
children  must  always  depend.  .  .  . 

The  natural  resources  I  have  enumerated  can  be  divided  into 
two  sharply  distinguished  classes  accordingly  as  they  are  or  are 
not  capable  of  renewal.  Mines  if  used  must  necessarily  be 
exhausted.  The  minerals  do  not  and  cannot  renew  themselves. 
Therefore  in  dealing  with  the  coal,  the  oil,  the  gas,  the  iron,  the 
metals  generally,  all  that  we  can  do  is  to  try  to  see  that  they 
are  wisely  used.  The  exhaustion  is  certain  to  come  in  time. 


Entering  the  Twentieth  Century  565 

We  can  trust  that  it  will  be  deferred  long  enough  to  enable  the 
extraordinarily  inventive  genius  of  our  people  to  devise  means 
and  methods  for  more  or  less  adequately  replacing  what  is  lost ; 
but  the  exhaustion  is  sure  to  come. 

The  second  class  of  resources  consists  of  those  which  can 
not  only  be  used  in  such  manner  as  to  leave  them  undiminished 
for  our  children,  but  can  actually  be  improved  by  wise  use.  The 
soil,  the  forests,  the  waterways  come  in  this  category.  Every 
one  knows  that  a  really  good  farmer  leaves  his  farm  more  valu 
able  at  the  end  of  his  life  than  it  was  when  he  first  took  hold 
of  it.  So  with  the  waterways.  So  with  the  forests.  .  .  . 

Neither  the  primitive  man  nor  the  pioneer  was  aware  of  any 
duty  to  posterity  in  dealing  with  the  renewable  resources.  When 
the  American  settler  felled  the  forests,  he  felt  that  there  was 
plenty  of  forest  left  for  the  sons  who  came  after  him.  When  he 
exhausted  the  soil  of  his  farm,  he  felt  that  his  son  could  go  West 
and  take  up  another.  .  . .  When  the  soil-wash  from  the  farmer's 
field  choked  the  neighboring  river,  the  only  thought  was  to  use 
the  railway  rather  than  the  boats  to  move  produce  and  supplies. 
That  was  so  up  to  the  generation  that  preceded  ours. 

Now  all  this  is  changed.  On  the  average  the  son  of  the 
farmer  of  today  must  make  his  living  on  his  father's  farm.  There 
is  no  difficulty  in  doing  this  if  the  father  will  exercise  wisdom. 
No  wise  use  of  a  farm  exhausts  its  fertility.  So  with  the  forests. 
We  are  on  the  verge  of  a  timber  famine  in  this  country,  and  it 
is  unpardonable  for  the  Nation  or  the  States  to  permit  any  fur 
ther  cutting  of  our  timber  save  in  accordance  with  a  system 
which  will  provide  that  the  next  generation  shall  see  the  timber 
increased  instead  of  diminished.  .  .  . 

We  can,  moreover,  add  enormous  tracts  of  the  most  valuable 
possible  agricultural  land  to  the  national  domain  by  irrigation  in 
the  arid  and  semi-arid  regions,  and  by  drainage  of  great  tracts 
of  swamp  land  in  the  humid  regions.  We  can  enormously  in 
crease  our  transportation  facilities  by  the  canalization  of  our 
rivers  so  as  to  complete  a  great  system  of  waterways  on  the 
Pacific,  Atlantic,  and  Gulf  coasts  and  in  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
from  the  Great  Plains  to  the  Alleghenies  and  from  the  northern 
lakes  to  the  mouth  of  the  mighty  Father  of  Waters.  But  all  these 


566      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

various  uses  of  our  natural  resources  are  so  closely  connected 
that  they  should  be  coordinated  and  should  be  treated  as  part  of 
one  coherent  plan  and  not  in  haphazard  and  piece-meal  fashion. . . . 
We  are  coming  to  recognize  as  never  before  the  right  of  the 
Nation  to  guard  its  own  future  in  the  essential  matter  of  natural 
resources.  In  the  past  we  have  admitted  the  right  of  the  indi 
vidual  to  injure  the  future  of  the  Republic  for  his  own  present 
profit.  In  fact  there  has  been  a  good  deal  of  a  demand  for  un 
restricted  individualism.  .  .  The  time  has  come  for  a  change. 

o 

As  a  people  we  have  the  right  and  the  duty  ...  to  protect  our 
selves  and  our  children  against  the  wasteful  development  of  our 
natural  resources,  whether  that  waste  is  caused  by  the  actual 
destruction  of  such  resources  or  by  making  them  impossible  of 
development  hereafter.  .  .  . 

Finally,  let  us  remember  that  the  conservation  of  our  natural 
resources,  though  the  gravest  problem  of  today,  is  yet  but  part 
of  another  and  greater  problem  to  which  this  Nation  is  not  yet 
awake,  but  to  which  it  will  awake  in  time,  and  with  which  it 
must  hereafter  grapple  if  it  is  to  live  —  the  problem  of  national 
efficiency,  the  patriotic  duty  of  assuring  the  safety  and  continu 
ance  of  the  Nation.  When  the  People  of  the  United  States 
consciously  undertake  to  raise  themselves  as  citizens,  and  the 
Nation  and  the  States  in  their  several  spheres,  to  the  highest 
pitch  of  excellence  in  private,  State,  and  national  life,  and  to  do 
this  because  it  is  the  first  of  all  the  duties  of  true  patriotism,  then 
and  not  till  then  the  future  of  this  Nation,  in  quality  and  in  time, 
will  be  assured.  ^\ 

THE  RETURN  OF  THE  DEMOCRATS 

An  Industrial  Commission  of  eighteen  members  was 
appointed  by  act  of  Congress,  June  18,  1898,  "to  investi 
gate  questions  pertaining  to  immigration,  to  labor,  to  agri 
culture,  to  manufacturing,  to  business,  and  to  report  to 
Congress  and  suggest  such  legislation  as  it  may  deem  best 
upon  these  subjects."  On  December  4,  1901,  the  commis 
sion  submitted  to  Congress  a  report  of  a  thousand  pages 


Entering  the  Twentieth  Century  567 

on  industrial  corporations,  chiefly  composed  of  the  testi 
mony  of  officers  of  the  trusts  before  the  commission. 
From  a  summary  of  the  evidence  prefixed  to  the  report 
the  following  paragraphs  are  taken  : 

It  is  clearly  the  opinion  of  most  of  those  associated  with  in 
dustrial  combinations  that  the  chief  cause  of  their  formation  has 
been  excessive  competition.  Naturally  all  business  men  desire 
to  make  profits,  and  they  find  their  profits  falling  off  first  through 
the  pressure  of  lowering  prices  of  their  competitors.  The  de 
sire  to  lessen  too  vigorous  competition  naturally  brings  them 
together.  .  .  . 

One  or  two  of  the  witnesses  considered  the  protective  tariff 
as  the  chief  cause  of  the  trusts.  They  urged  that  high  tariff 
duties,  by  shutting  out  foreign  competition,  make  it  easier  for 
our  manufacturers  to  combine  to  control  prices,  and  they  think 
that  the  experience  of  the  last  few  years  justifies  the  assertion. 
Likewise,  they  say,  through  the  high  profits  that  come  from 
the  exclusion  of  foreign  competition  by  the  tariff,  capital  has 
been  attracted  into  industries  here  to  so  great  an  extent  and 
with  the  expectation  of  so  high  profits,  that  home  competition 
has  been  unduly  stimulated,  thereby  leading  to  the  formation 
of  combinations. 

Some  other  witnesses  believe  that  the  tariff,  while  not  the 
most  important  cause,  has,  nevertheless,  some  influence  toward 
encouraging  combinations ;  while  one  witness,  Mr.  LaTaste,  be 
lieves  that  the  monopoly  of  natural  opportunities,  under  our 
present  system  of  taxation,  is  to  be  considered  the  fundamental 
cause! 

Nearly  all  of  the  witnesses  who  have  considered  excessive  com 
petition  as  the  chief  cause  do  not  agree  that  the  tariff  is  to  be 
looked  on  as  a  cause,  nor  as  a  rule  do  they  concede  that  those 
engaged  in  the  organization  of  combinations  have  any  intention 
of 'securing  a  complete  monopoly.  It  is,  of  course,  true  that  the 
restriction  of  competition  is  a  step  towards  monopoly,  but  com 
petition  has  not  been  suppressed  entirely,  and  they  do  not  be 
lieve  that  monopoly  has  been  or  can  be  secured.  In  most  cases 
they  would  deny  that  a  monopoly  was  in  any  respect  desirable  . . . 


568       History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

In  case  of  the  newer  combinations  in  the  United  States *  it 
has  been  found  that  practically  all  the  important  ones  are  put 
into  the  form  of  a  single  large  corporation.  In  many  cases  the 
new  corporation  buys  the  individual  plants  which  it  seems  de 
sirable  to  combine  and  thus  becomes  a  single  owner  of  all  the 
establishments.  In  other  cases,  and  this  is  perhaps  true  espe 
cially  with  reference  to  the  largest  combinations,  the  stock  of 
the  constituent  members  is  all  bought  by  the  single  unifying 
company.  The  constituent  companies  then  retain  their  organiza 
tion  intact,  being  controlled  simply  by  the  central  corporation, 
as  a  stockholder,  which  can  elect  directors  and  officers  at  will 
and  thus  guide  the  management  absolutely.  .  .  . 

It  is  quite  a  general  custom  for  a  syndicate  to  be  organized 
of  individuals,  bankers  and  others,  who  furnish  whatever  cash 
may  be  needed  to  purchase  the  different  plants  entering  the 
combination,  and  who  agree  to  take  a  certain  proportion,  if  not 
all,  of  the  new  stock  which  is  not  taken  by  the  vendors  of  the 
plants  and  by  the  public.  .  .  . 

Several  of  the  combinations  which  the  Industrial  Commission 
has  been  lately  considering  are  able  to  control  a  very  large  por 
tion  of  the  entire  output  of  the  country,  so  that  they  have,  per 
haps,  the  power  to  effect  [affect]  prices.  The  National  Cordage 
Company  soon  after  its  formation  controlled  probably  from  60  to 
70  per  cent  of  the  entire  business.  . . .  The  American  Smelting 
and  Refining  Company  before  the  union  with  the  Guggenheimers 
controlled  about  85  per  cent  of  the  entire  smelting  business  of 
the  country.  Since  that  combination  it  has  substantially  all  the 
trade.  .  .  .  The  Pittsburg  Coal  Company  controls  the  bulk  of 
the  lake  trade  in  coal,  although  there  is  a  little  competition  from 
southern  Ohio  and  western  Virginia.  It  is  so  situated  that  it 
can  practically  dictate  the  prices  in  its  entire  market.  The  United 
States  Steel  Corporation  is  made  up  of  companies  engaged  in 
various  lines  of  business,  from  mining  to  finishing  the  higher 
grades  of  steel.  It  is  probable  that  at  the  present  time  it 

1  That  is,  the  trusts  formed  since  the  Republican  victory  of  1896  and 
the  Spanish  War :  rubber,  cordage,  plate  glass,  wall  paper,  tobacco, 
sugar  refining,  smelting,  oil,  steel  and  iron,  copper,  thread,  baking 
powder,  coal,  starch,  biscuit,  chemicals,  leather,  whiskey,  asphalt,  etc. 


Entering  the  Twentieth  Century  569 

controls  between  65  and  75  per  cent  of  the  steel  industry  in  the 
United  States.  . . .  The  International  Paper  Company  produces, 
probably,  at  the  present  time  about  1,300  tons  per  day  out  of 
an  entire  output  for  the  United  States  of  over  2,000  tons  per 
day  of  news  print  paper.  .  .  .  Mr.  Pitcairn,  president  of  the 
Pittsburg  Plate  Glass  Company,  says  that  that  combination  pro 
duces  about  72^  per  cent  of  the  plate  glass  product  of  this 
country.  .  .  .  The  National  Starch  Company  has  also  a  large 
percentage  of  control,  amounting  to  probably  more  than  90  per 
cent  of  the  box  starch  used  and  a  very  large  percentage  of  starch 
of  other  kinds.  .  .  .  Certain  local  companies,  such  as  the  Brook 
lyn  Union  Gas  Company,  being  natural  monopolies,  have  abso 
lute  control  of  the  markets,  but  their  prices  are  determined  to 
a  considerable  extent  by  legislation.  .  .  . 

Speaking  generally,  the  witnesses  have  been  of  the-  opinion 
that  the  effect  of  the  combinations  has  been  to  increase  wages, 
or,  at  any  rate,  that  during  the  last  two  or  three  years  under  the 
combinations  the  wages  have  been  somewhat  higher  than  they 
had  been  before.  It  is  acknowledged  in  many  of  these  cases 
that  this  increase  has  been  due  to  the  prosperous  condition  of 
the  country  and  to  the  fact  that  there  has  been  a  strong  demand 
for  labor.  In  most  cases  in  the  iron  and  steel  manufacture,  as 
well  as  in  several  other  of  the  most  important  industries,  the 
wages  are  arranged  after  consultation  with  the  labor  unions  or 
with  committees  representing  the  employees,  and  a  scale  is  agreed 
upon,  in  many  cases  this  being  a  sliding  scale  dependent  upon 
the  price  of  the  product.  .  .  . 

Most  of  the  witnesses  have  recognized  that  there  are  certain 
disadvantages  connected  with  most  combinations.  . . .  Mr.  Holt 
is  of  the  opinion  that  the  trusts  form  a  very  corrupting  influence 
in  politics,  largely  owing  to  the  fact  that  they  are  protected  by 
the  tariff,  and  in  consequence  have  found  it  advisable  to  send 
agents  to  Congress  to  dictate  tariff  legislation.  He  thinks  also 
that  they  deceive  the  public  regarding  the  nature  of  the  business 
and  of  the  business  of  the  country  through  juggling  with  prices 
and  statistics.  Mr.  Hillyer,  as  well  as  some  other  witnesses, 
thinks  that  the  aggregation  of  power  brought  about  through 
combination  is  a  dangerous  element  and  a  menace  to  the  political 


570      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

independence  of  the  people.  Mr.  Spalding  endorses  this  opinion. 
He  believes  that  it  is  natural  for  men  to  charge  all  that  they  can 
get.  The  combinations  also,  in  his  opinion,  diminish  individual 
effort  and  deprive  the  individual  of  the  opportunity  of  rising.  .  .  . 

Of  the  later  witnesses  that  have  been  heard,  the  larger  num 
ber  are  of  the  opinion  that  comparatively  few,  if  any,  legislative 
remedies  are  needed.  The  witnesses  whose  inclinations  are 
strongly  towrard  free  trade  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  removal 
of  the  tariff  on  goods  controlled  by  combinations  would  be  the 
best  .  .  .  remedy.  Most  of  the  manufacturers  object  to  having 
the  tariff  interfered  with.  .  .  . 

More  of  the  witnesses  think  that  something  could  be  gained 
in  the  way  of  greater  publicity  regarding  the  business  of  the 
combinations.  For  example,  Mr.  Campbell  thinks  that  corpora 
tions  whose  stock  is  sold  to  the  public  on  exchanges  should  be 
under  Governmental  control.  He  would  be  willing  to  have  the 
regulation  go  even  further  than  a  mere  publicity  of  accounts. 
Mr.  White  believes  that  the  State  has  the  right  to  say  how  the 
combinations  should  be  regulated,  and  thinks  it  possible  that 
some  tax  might  ultimately  be  placed  on  what  would  be  con 
sidered  excessive  earnings,  the  actual  earnings  to  be  found  out 
by  a  complete  system  of  Governmental  inspection  of  accounts. . . . 

Some  of  the  witnesses  speak  distinctly  against  even  any  spe 
cial  degree  of  publicity.  Mr.  S.chwrab,  for  example,  thinks  that 
.  .  .  though  the  stockholders  are  entitled  to  certain  statements, 
even  those  should  be  somewhat  limited.  .  .  .  Mr.  Gunton  ad 
vises  that,  if  possible,  the  combinations  be  put  under  a  national 
charter.  .  .  .  Mr.  Hillyer  *  thinks  that  the  Sherman  law  [of  1890] 
should  be  rigidly  enforced,  and  that  the  tariff  should  be  removed ; 
that  there  should  be  Government  ownership  so  far  as  municipal 
combinations  are  concerned  ;  and,  if  necessary,  the  Government 
should  itself  ultimately  go  into  the  business  of  manufacturing 
the  products  manufactured  by  the  trusts.  He  would  be  ready 
now  to  have  the  United  States  Government  control  the  railroads, 
telegraphs,  and  long-distance  telephones.  .  .  . 

1  Messrs.  Hillyer  and  Spalding  were  lawyers  of  Atlanta,  Georgia, 
summoned  to  give  testimony  before  the  Industrial  Commission.  They 
were  both  hostile  to  the  trusts. 


Entering  the  Twentieth  Century  571 

Mr.  Spalding  thinks  that  the  trusts  are  a  national  question ; 
the  remedy  must  be  a  national  one.  He  believes  that  it  is  prac 
ticable  to  enact  national  legislation  which  will  forbid  any  trust 
to  put  down  prices  so  as  to  destroy  competition  or  to  put  them 
up  to  a  point  of  extortion.  ...  He  thinks  that  trusts  might  be 
abolished  by  Congress  by  a  law  similar  to  that  which  broke  up 
the  lottery  business.  They  might  be  forbidden  to  use  the  mails 
or  be  forbidden  to  ship  their  products  across  State  lines.  If  a 
trust  should  build  a  plant  in  every  State  to  supply  the  wants 
in  that  State  in  order  to  evade  the  above-mentioned  law,  that 
would  do  away  with  many  of  the  offensive  features  of  the  combi 
nations.  The  trusts  should  certainly  give  publicity  to  their  oper 
ations,  and  he  would  favor  any  methods  of  dealing  with  them 
which  could  constitutionally  be  adopted,  either  under  the  power 
to  regulate  interstate  commerce  or  under  the  taxing  power. 

One  week   after    his   inauguration,    President   Wilson  120.  Wii- 
made  the  following  statement :  "  One  of  the  chief  objects  can'poUcyo 
of  my  administration  will  be  to  cultivate  the  friendship  "Watchful 

and    deserve  the  confidence  of    our   sister  republics  of 

.  [493] 

Central  and  South  America,  and   to  promote  in   every 

proper  and  honorable  way  the  interests  which  are  com 
mon  to  the  peoples  of  the  two  continents."  Some  of  the 
difficulties  which  he  met  in  applying  this  principle  to 
the  distressing  situation  in  Mexico  are  illustrated  in  the 
following  extracts.  On  August  27,  1913,  the  President 
addressed  Congress  on  the  Mexican  anarchy  : 

Gentlemen  of  the  Congress,  it  is  clearly  my  duty  to  lay  before 
you,  very  fully  and  without  reservation,  the  facts  concerning  our 
present  relations  with  the  Republic  of  Mexico.  The  deplorable 
posture  of  affairs  in  Mexico  I  need  not  describe,  but  I  deem  it 
my  duty  to  speak  very  frankly  of  what  this  Government  has 
done  and  should  seek  to  do  in  fulfillment  of  its  obligations  to 
Mexico  herself,  as  a  friend  and  neighbor,  and  to  American  citi 
zens  whose  lives  and  vital  interests  are  daily  affected  by  the 
distressing  conditions  beyond  our  southern  border.  .  .  .  The 


572      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

peace,  prosperity,  and  contentment  of  Mexico  mean  more,  much 
more,  to  us  than  merely  an  enlarged  field  for  our  commerce  and 
enterprise.  They  mean  an  enlargement  of  the  field  of  self- 
government  and  the  realization  of  the  hopes  and  rights  of 
a  nation  with  whose  best  aspirations,  so  long  suppressed  and 
disappointed,  we  deeply  sympathize.  .  .  .  We  have  waited  many 
months,  months  full  of  peril  and  anxiety,  for  the  conditions  there 
to  improve,  and  they  have  not  improved.  They  have  grown 
worse,  rather.  .  .  .  The  prospect  of  the  pacification  of  the 
country,  even  by  arms,  has  seemed  to  grow  more  and  more 
remote ;  and  its  pacification  by  the  authorities  at  the  capital  is 
evidently  impossible  by  any  other  means  than  force.  .  .  .  War 
and  disorder,  devastation  and  confusion,  seem  to  threaten  to 
become  the  settled  fortune  of  the  distracted  country.  As  friends 
we  could  wait  no  longer  for  a  solution  which  every  week 
seemed  further  away.  It  was  our  duty  at  least  to  volunteer 
our  good  offices.  .  .  . 

Accordingly,  I  took  the  liberty  of  sending  the  Hon.  John  Lind, 
formerly  governor  of  Minnesota,  as  my  personal  spokesman 
and  representative,  to  the  City  of  Mexico,  with  the  following 
instructions : 

After  expressions  of  the  good  will  of  this  country,  the 
instructions  continue  : 

The  present  situation  in  Mexico  is  incompatible  with  the  ful 
fillment  of  international  obligations  on  the  part  of  Mexico,  with 
the  civilized  development  of  Mexico  herself,  and  with  the  main 
tenance  of  tolerable  political  and  economic  conditions  in  Central 
America.  It  is  upon  no  common  occasion,  therefore,  that  the 
United  States  offers  her  counsel  and  assistance.  All  America 
cries  out  for  a  settlement. 

A  satisfactory  settlement  seems  to  us  to  be  conditioned  on 

(a)  An  immediate  cessation  of  fighting  throughout  Mexico, 
a  definite  armistice  solemnly  entered  into  and  scrupulously 
observed. 

(#)  Security  given  for  an  early  and  free  election  in  which  all 
will  agree  to  take  part. 


Entering  the  Twentieth  Century  573 

(V)  The  consent  of  Gen.  Huerta  to  bind  himself  not  to  be  a 
candidate  for  election  as  President  of  the  Republic  at  this  election. 

(d)  The  agreement  of  all  parties  to  abide  by  the  results  of 
the  election  and  cooperate  in  the  most  loyal  way  in  organizing 
and  supporting  the  new  administration. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  will  be  glad  to  play 
any  part  in  this  settlement  or  its  carrying  out  which  it  can  play 
honorably  and  consistently  with  international  right.  It  pledges 
itself  to  recognize  and  in  every  way  possible  and  proper  to  assist 
the  administration  chosen  and  set  up  in  Mexico  in  the  way  and 
on  the  conditions  suggested.  .  .  . 

Can  Mexico  give  the  civilized  world  a  satisfactory  reason  for 
rejecting  our  good  offices  ?  If  Mexico  can  suggest  any  better 
way  in  which  to  show  our  friendship,  serve  the  people  of  Mexico, 
and  meet  our  international  obligations,  we  are  more  than  willing 
to  consider  the  suggestion. 

Not  only  did  the  government  of  General  Huerta  "  reject 
our  good  offices,"  but  it  committed  acts  against  American 
sailors  which  led  President  Wilson  to  substitute  a  show  of 
force  for  the  diplomacy  of  persuasion.  On  April  20,  1914, 
he  addressed  the  Congress  as  follows : 

It  is  my  duty  to  call  your  attention  to  a  situation  which  has 
arisen  in  our  dealings  with  Gen.  Victoriano  Huerta  at  Mexico 
City  which  calls  for  action,  and  to  ask  your  advice  and  coopera 
tion  in  acting  upon  it.  On  the  9th  of  April  a  paymaster  of  the 
U.  S.  S.  Dolphin  landed  at  the  Iturbide  Bridge  landing  at  Tam- 
pico  with  a  whaleboat  and  boat's  crew  to  take  off  certain  supplies 
needed  by  his  ship,  and  while  engaged  in  loading  the  boat 
was  arrested  by  an  officer  and  squad  of  men  of  the  army  of 
Gen.  Huerta.  Neither  paymaster  nor  any  orte  of  the  boat's  crew 
was  armed.  Two  of  the  men  were  in  the  boat  when  the  arrest 
took  place,  and  were  obliged  to  leave  it  and  submit  to  be  taken 
into  custody,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  boat  carried,  both 
at  her  bow  and  at  her  stern,  the  flag  of  the  United  States.  The 
officer  who  made  the  arrest  was  proceeding  up  one  of  the  streets 
of  the  town  with  his  prisoners  when  met  by  an  officer  of  higher 


574      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

authority,  who  ordered  him  to  return  to  the  landing  and  await 
orders ;  and  within  an  hour  and  a  half  from  the  time  of  the 
arrest  orders  were  received  from  the  commander  of  the  Huertista 
forces  at  Tampico  for  the  release  of  the  paymaster  and  his  men. 
The  release  was  followed  by  apologies  from  the  commander 
and  later  by  an  expression  of  regret  by  Gen.  Huerta  himself. 
Gen.  Huerta  urged  that  martial  law  obtained  at  the  time  at 
Tampico ;  that  orders  had  been  issued  that  no  one  should  be 
allowed  to  land  at  the  Iturbide  Bridge ;  that  our  sailors  had  no 
right  to  land  there.  Our  naval  commanders  at  the  port  had  not 
been  notified  of  any  such  prohibition ;  and,  even  if  they  had 
been,  the  only  justifiable  course  open  to  the  local  authorities 
would  have  been  to  request  the  paymaster  and  his  crew  to  with 
draw  and  to  lodge  a  protest  with  the  commanding  officer  of 
the  fleet.  Admiral  Mayo  regarded  the  arrest  as  so  serious  an 
affront  that  he  was  not  satisfied  with  the  apologies  offered,  but 
demanded  that  the  flag  of  the  United  States  be  saluted  with 
special  ceremony  by  the  military  commander  of  the  port. 

The  incident  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  trivial  one,  especially 
as  two  of  the  men  arrested  were  taken  from  the  boat  itself  — 
that  is  to  say,  from  the  territory  of  the  United  States  —  but  had 
it  stood  by  itself  it  might  have  been  attributed  to  the  ignorance 
or  arrogance  of  a  single  officer.  Unfortunately,  it  was  not  an 
isolated  case.  A  series  of  incidents  have  recently  occurred  which 
cannot  but  create  the  impression  that  the  representatives  of 
Gen.  Huerta  were  \villing  to  go  out  of  their  way  to  show  disre 
gard  for  the  dignity  and  rights  of  this  Government,  and  felt  per 
fectly  safe  in  doing  what  they  pleased.  ...  So  far  as  I  can 
learn,  such  wrongs  and  annoyances  have  been  suffered  to  occur 
only  against  representatives  of  the  United  States.  ...  I  felt  it 
my  duty,  therefore,  to  sustain  Admiral  Mayo  in  the  whole  of  his 
demand,  and  to  insist  that  the  flag  of  the  United  States  should 
be  saluted  in  such  a  way  as  to  indicate  a  new  spirit  and  attitude 
on  the  part  of  the  Huertistas. 

Such  a  salute  Gen.  Huerta  has  refused,  and  I  have  come  to 
ask  your  approval  and  support  in  the  course  I  now  purpose 
to  pursue  .  .  .  that  I  should  use  the  armed  forces  of  the  United 
States  in  such  ways  and  to  such  an  extent  as  may  be  necessary 


Entering  the  Twentieth  Century  575 

to  obtain  from  Gen.  Huerta  and  his  adherents  the  fullest  recog 
nition  of  the  rights  and  dignity  of  the  United  States,  even  amidst 
the  distressing  conditions  now  obtaining  in  Mexico. 

There  can  in  what  we  do  be  no  thought  of  aggression  or 
selfish  aggrandizement.  We  seek  to  maintain  the  dignity  and 
authority  of  the  United  States  only  because  we  wish  always  to 
keep  our  great  influence  unimpaired  for  the  uses  of  liberty,  both 
in  the  United  States  and  wherever  else  it  may  be  employed  for 
the  benefit  of  mankind. 

The  seizure  of  the  custom-house  at  Vera  Cruz  by  a 
detachment  of  U.  S.  marines  and  the  mediation  of  the 
ABC  powers  caused  Huerta  to  resign  ;  but  the  civil  war 
continued  unabated  in  Mexico  between  Carranza  and  Villa. 
We  withdrew  our  troops  from  Vera  Cruz  in  the  autumn 
of  1914,  but  were  forced  to  send  a  punitive  expedition 
across  the  border  in  the  early  spring  of  1916  to  pursue 
the  bandit  Villa,  who  had  raided  the  town  of  Columbus, 
New  Mexico.  To  guard  against  the  misinterpretation  of 
this  departure  from  his  policy  of  "watchful  waiting"  as 
an  act  of  war  against  Mexico,  President  Wilson  issued  the 
following  statement  on  March  25,  1916  : 

I  feel  that  it  is  most  desirable  to  impress  upon  both  our  own 
people  and  the  people  of  Mexico  the  fact  that  the  expedition  is 
simply  a  necessary  punitive  measure,  aimed  solely  at  the  elim 
ination  of  the  marauders  who  raided  Columbus  and  who  infest 
an  unprotected  district  near  the  border,  which  they  use  as  a  base 
in  making  attacks  upon  the  lives  and  property  of  our  citizens 
within  our  own  territory.  It  is  the  purpose  of  our  commanders 
to  cooperate  in  every  possible  way  with  the  forces  of  General 
Carranza  in  removing  this  cause  of  irritation  to  both  Govern 
ments,  and  retire  from  Mexican  territory  so  soon  as  that  object 
is  accomplished. 

It  is  my  duty  to  warn  the  people  of  the  United  States  that 
there  are  persons  all  along  the  border  who  are  actively  engaged 
in  originating  and  giving  as  wide  currency  as  they  can  to  rumors 


5  76       History  of  the  Republic  since  t/ie  Civil  War 

of  the  most  sensational  and  disturbing  sort,  which  are  wholly 
unjustified  by  the  facts.  The  object  of  this  traffic  in  falsehood 
is  obvious.  It  is  to  create  intolerable  friction  between  the  Gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States  and  the  de  facto  [Carranza]  Govern 
ment  of  Mexico  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  about  intervention 
in  the  interest  of  certain  American  owners  of  Mexican  properties. 
This  object  cannot  be  attained  so  long  as  sane  and  honorable 
men  are  in  control  of  this  Government,  but  very  serious  con 
ditions  may  be  created,  unnecessary  bloodshed  may  result,  and 
the  relations  between  the  two  republics  may  be  very  much 
embarrassed. 


CHAPTER  XX 

AMERICA  AND  THE  WORLD  WAR 

NEUTRALITY 

On  February  4,  1915,  the  German  government  traced  121.  The 
a  war  zone  around  the  British  Isles  and  warned  neutral  ^thrxo 
vessels  not  to  enter  it.   On  February  3,  1917,  the  American  Pedo 
government  broke  off  diplomatic  relations  with  Germany— 
the  prelude  to  the  war  which  was  declared  a  few  weeks 
later.     During   this    period  of  two  full  years  President 
Wilson    labored   through   diplomatic  communications   to 
secure  from  Germany  respect  for  the  lives  of  Americans 
traveling  on  the  high  seas.    Six  days  after  the  publication 
of  the  war-zone  order  Secretary  of  State  Bryan  dispatched 
the  following  note  to  the  German  government : 

It  is  of  course  not  necessary  to  remind  the  German  Govern 
ment  that  the  sole  right  of  a  belligerent  in  dealing  with  neutral 
vessels  on  the  high  seas  is  limited  to  visit  and  search,  unless 
a  blockade  is  proclaimed  and  effectively  maintained,  which  this 
Government  does  not  understand  to  be  proposed  in  this  case. 
To  declare  or  exercise  a  right  to  attack  and  destroy  any  vessel 
entering  a  prescribed  area  of  the  high  seas  without  first  certainly 
determining  its  belligerent  nationality  and  the  contraband  char 
acter  of  its  cargo  would  be  an  act  so  unprecedented  in  naval 
warfare  that  this  Government  is  reluctant  to  believe  that  the 
Imperial  Government  of  Germany  in  this  case  contemplates 
it  as  possible.  .  .  . 

If  the  commanders  of  German  vessels  of  war  should  act  upon 
the  presumption  that  the  flag  of  the  United  States  was  not  being 
used  in  good  faith,  and  should  destroy  on  the  high  seas  an 

577 


578       History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

American  vessel  or  the  lives  of  American  citizens,  it  would  be 
difficult  for  the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  view  the 
act  in  any  other  light  than  as  an  indefensible  violation  of  neutral 
rights,  which  it  would  be  very  hard  indeed  to  reconcile  with  the 
friendly  relations  now  so  happily  subsisting  between  the  two 
Governments. 

If  such  a  deplorable  situation  should  arise,  the  Imperial 
German  Government  can  readily  appreciate  that  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  would  be  constrained  to  hold  the 
Imperial  German  Government  to  a  strict  accountability  for  such 
acts  of  their  naval  authorities  and  to  take  any  steps  it  might  be 
necessary  to  take  to  safeguard  American  lives  and  property 
and  to  secure  to  American  citizens  the  full  enjoyment  of  their 
acknowledged  rights  on  the  high  seas. 

When  more  than  100  American  lives  were  lost  in  the 
destruction  of  the  British  liner  Lusitania  by  a  German 
torpedo,  on  May  7,  1915,  there  began  a  lively  interchange 
of  notes  between  Washington  and  Berlin.  The  first  Lusi 
tania  note,  dispatched  by  Secretary  of  State  Bryan  on 
May  13,  reads  in  part: 

Manifestly  submarines  cannot  be  used  against  merchantmen, 
as  the  last  few  weeks  have  shown,  without  an  inevitable  violation 
of  many  sacred  principles  of  justice  and  humanity.  American 
citizens  act  within  their  indisputable  rights  in  taking  their  ships 
and  in  traveling  wherever  their  legitimate  business  calls  them 
upon  the  high  seas,  and  exercise  those  rights  in  what  should  be 
the  well-justified  confidence  that  their  lives  will  not  be  endangered 
by  acts  done  in  clear  violation  of  universally  acknowledged  inter 
national  obligations,  and  certainly  in  the  confidence  that  their 
own  Government  will  sustain  them  in  the  exercise  of  their  rights. 

There  was  recently  published  in  the  newspapers  of  the 
United  States  ...  a  formal  warning,  purporting  to  come  from 
the  Imperial  German  embassy  at  Washington,  addressed  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  and  stating,  in  effect,  that  any 
citizen  of  the  United  Stateo  who  exercised  his  right  of  free  travel 
upon  the  seas  would  do  so  at  his  peril  if  his  journey  should  take 


America  and  the  World  War  579 

him  within  the  zone  of  waters  within  which  the  Imperial  German 
Navy  was  using  submarines  against  the  commerce  of  Great 
Britain  and  France.  ...  I  do  not  refer  to  this  for  the  purpose 
of  calling  the  attention  of  the  Imperial  German  Government 
at  this  time  to  the  surprising  irregularity  of  a  communication 
from  the  Imperial  German  embassy  at  Washington  addressed 
to  the  people  of  the  United  States  through  the  newspapers,  but 
only  for  the  purpose  of  pointing  out  that  no  warning  that  an 
unlawful  and  inhumane  act  will  be  committed  can  possibly  be 
accepted  as  an  excuse  or  palliation  for  that  act  or  as  an  abate 
ment  of  the  responsibility  for  its  commission.  .  .  . 

Expressions  of  regret  and  offers  of  reparation  in  case  of  the 
destruction  of  neutral  ships  sunk  by  mistake,  while  they  may 
satisfy  international  obligations,  if  no  loss  of  life  results,  cannot 
justify  or  excuse  a  practice  the  natural  and  necessary  effect  of 
which  is  to  subject  neutral  nations  and  neutral  persons  to  new 
and  immeasurable  risks. 

The  Imperial  German  Government  will  not  expect  the  Gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States  to  omit  any  word  or  any  act  neces 
sary  to  the  performance  of  its  sacred  duty  of  maintaining  the 
rights  of  the  United  States  and  its  citizens  and  of  safeguarding 
their  free  exercise  and  enjoyment. 

The  German  reply  of  May  28-June  i,  1915,  while 
expressing  regret  that  American  lives  were  lost,  neverthe 
less  justified  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  on  the  ground 
that  she  was  virtually  a  war-vessel,  carried  on  the  list  of 
the  British  navy,  equipped  with  masked  guns,  and  trans 
porting  thousands  of  cases  of  munitions,  together  with 
Canadian  troops.  In  its  second  Lusitania  note  to  the 
German  government  the  administration  at  Washington 
said  (June  9,  1915): 

Whatever  may  be  the  contentions  of  the  Imperial  German 
Government  regarding  the  carriage  of  contraband  of  war  on 
board  the  Lusitania  or  regarding  the  explosion  of  that  material 
by  the  torpedo,  it  need  only  be  said  that  in  the  view  of  this 


580      History  of  tJic  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

Government  these  contentions  are  irrelevant  to  the  question  of 
the  legality  of  the  methods  used  by  the  German  naval  authorities 
in  sinking  the  vessel.  .  .  . 

Whatever  be  the  other  facts  regarding  the  Lusitania,  the 
principal  fact  is  that  a  great  steamer,  primarily  and  chiefly  a  con 
veyance  for  passengers,  and  carrying  more  than  a  thousand 
souls  who  had  no  part  or  lot  in  the  conduct  of  the  war,  was 
torpedoed  and  sunk  without  so  much  as  a  challenge  or  a  warn 
ing,  and  that  men,  women,  and  children  were  sent  to  their  death 
in  circumstances  unparalleled  in  modern  warfare.  .  .  .  The  Gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States  is  contending  for  something  much 
greater  than  mere  rights  of  property  or  privileges  of  commerce. 
It  is  contending  for  nothing  less  high  and  sacred  than  the  rights  of 
humanity,  which  every  government  honors  itself  in  respecting. 
.  .  .  Only  her  actual  resistance  to  capture  or  refusal  to  stop  when 
ordered  to  do  so  for  the  purpose  of  visit  could  have  afforded  the 
commander  of  the  submarine  any  justification  for  so  much  as 
putting  the  lives  of  those  on  board  the  ship  in  jeopardy.  .  .  . 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  cannot  admit  that  the 
proclamation  of  a  war  zone  from  which  neutral  ships  have  been 
warned  to  keep  away  may  be  made  to  operate  as  in  any  degree 
an  abbreviation  of  the  rights  either  of  American  shipmasters  or 
of  American  citizens  bound  on  lawful  errands  as  passengers  on 
merchant  ships  of  belligerent  nationality.  .  .  .  The  Government 
of  the  United  States  therefore  deems  it  reasonable  to  expect 
that  the  Imperial  German  Government  will  adopt  the  measures 
necessary  to  put  these  principles  into  practice  in  respect  of  the 
safeguarding  of  American  lives  and  American  ships,  and  asks 
for  assurances  that  this  will  be  done. 

In  spite  of  this  note  and  still  a  third  Lusitania  note, 
in  July,  the  German  government  refused  to  disavow  the 
act  of  the  submarine  commander  or  offer  reparation  for 
the  American  lives  lost.  Things  were  in  this  tense  situ 
ation  when  the  loss  of  American  lives  in  the  torpedoing 
of  the  British  Channel  steamer  Sussex  on  March  24,  1916, 
brought  an  ultimatum  from  our  government : 


America  and  tlie  World  War  581 

.  The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  been  very  patient. 
At  every  stage  of  this  distressing  experience  of  tragedy  after 
tragedy  it  has  sought  to  be  governed  by  the  most  thoughtful 
consideration  of  the  extraordinary  circumstances  of  an  unprece 
dented  war  and  to  be  guided  by  sentiments  of  very  genuine 
friendship  for  the  people  and  Government  of  Germany.  It 
has  accepted  the  successive  explanations  and  assurances  of  the 
Imperial  Government  as  of  course  given  in  entire  sincerity  and 
good  faith,  and  has  hoped,  even  against  hope,  that  it  would 
prove  to  be  possible  for  the  Imperial  Government  so  to  order 
and  control  the  acts  of  its  naval  commanders  as  to  square  its 
policy  with  the  recognized  principles  of  humanity  as  embodied 
in  the  law  of  nations.  It  has  made  every  allowance  for  un 
precedented  conditions,  and  has  been  willing  to  wait  until  the 
facts  became  unmistakable  and  were  susceptible  of  only  one 
interpretation. 

It  now  owes  it  to  a  just  regard  for  its  own  rights  to  say  to 
the  Imperial  Government  that  that  time  has  come.  ...  If  it  is 
still  the  purpose  of  the  Imperial  Government  to  prosecute 
relentless  and  indiscriminate  warfare  against  vessels  of  com 
merce  by  the  use  of  submarines  .  .  .  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  is  at  last  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is 
but  one  course  that  it  can  pursue.  Unless  the  Imperial  Govern 
ment  should  now  immediately  declare  and  effect  an  abandonment 
of  its  present  methods  of  submarine  warfare  against  passenger 
and  freight-carrying  vessels,  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
can  have  no  choice  but  to  sever  diplomatic  relations  with  the 
German  Empire  altogether.  This  action  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  contemplates  with  the  greatest  reluctance  but  feels 
constrained  to  take  in  behalf  of  humanity  and  the  rights  of 
neutral  nations. 

At   the   beginning   of  February,    1917,    the    German  122.  Presi- 
government,  in  spite  of  the  Sussex  Pledge,  resumed  its  ac 
policy  of  indiscriminate  and  ruthless  submarine  warfare,  gage  of 
We  severed  diplomatic  relations  with  Germany  on  Febru-  b 
ary  3,  and  on  April  2  President  Wilson  appeared  before 


582      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

Congress  to  recommend  war.  After  reviewing  the  situation 
of  the  past  two  years  he  said  : 

With  a  profound  sense  of  the  solemn  and  even  tragical  char 
acter  of  the  step  I  am  taking,  and  of  the  grave  responsibilities 
which  it  involves,  but  in  unhesitating  obedience  to  what  I  deem 
my  constitutional  duty,  I  advise  that  the  Congress  declare  the 
recent  course  of  the  Imperial  German  Government  to  be  in  fact 
nothing  less  than  war  against  the  Government  and  people  of  the 
United  States ;  that  it  formally  accept  the  status  of  belligerent 
which  has  thus  been  thrust  upon  it ;  and  that  it  take  immediate 
steps  not  only  to  put  the  country  in  a  more  thorough  state 
of  defense  but  also  to  exert  all  its  power  and  employ  all  its 
resources  to  bring  the  Government  of  the  German  Empire  to 
terms  and  end  the  war. 

What  this  will  involve  is  clear.  It  will  involve  the  utmost 
practicable  cooperation  in  counsel  and  action  with  the  govern 
ments  now  at  war  with  Germany,  and,  as  incident  to  that,  the 
extension  to  those  governments  of  the  most  liberal  financial 
credits.  ...  It  will  involve  the  organization  and  mobilization  of 
all  the  material  resources  of  the  country  to  supply  the  materials 
of  war.  ...  It  will  involve  the  immediate  addition  to  the  armed 
forces  of  the  United  States  ...  at  least  five  hundred  thousand 
men,  who  should,  in  my  opinion,  be  chosen  on  the  principle  of 
universal  liability  to  service.  .  .  . 

Neutrality  is  no  longer  feasible  or  desirable  where  the  peace 
of  the  world  is  involved  and  the  freedom  of  its  peoples,  and  the 
menace  to  that  peace  and  freedom  lies  in  the  existence  of  auto 
cratic  governments  backed  by  organized  force  which  is  controlled 
wholly  by  their  will,  not  by  the  will  of  their  people.  We  have 
seen  the  last  of  neutrality  in  such  circumstances.  We  are  at  the 
beginning  of  an  age  in  which  it  will  be  insisted  that  the  same 
standards  of  conduct  and  of  responsibility  for  wrong  done  shall 
be  observed  among  nations  and  their  governments  that  are 
observed  among  the  individual  citizens  of  civilized  states. 

We  have  no  quarrel  with  the  German  people.  We  have  no 
feeling  towards  them  but  one  of  sympathy  and  friendship.  It 
was  not  upon  their  impulse  that  their  Government  acted  in 


America  and  the  World  War  583 

entering  this  war.  It  was  not  with  their  previous  knowledge 
or  approval.  .  .  . 

One  of  the  things  that  has  served  to  convince  us  that  the 
Prussian  autocracy  was  not  and  never  could  be  our  friend  is 
that  from  the  very  outset  of  the  present  war  it  has  rilled  our 
unsuspecting  communities  and  even  our  offices  of  government 
with  spies,  and  set  criminal  intrigues  everywhere  afoot  against 
our  national  unity  of  counsel,  our  peace  within  and  without,  our 
industries  and  our  commerce.  .  .  .  We  are  now  about  to  accept 
gage  of  battle  with  this  natural  foe  to  liberty  and  shall,  if  neces 
sary,  spend  the  whole  force  of  the  nation  to  check  and  nullify 
its  pretensions  and  its  power.  .  .  .  The  world  must  be  made 
safe  for  democracy.  Its  peace  must  be  planted  upon  the  tested 
foundations  of  political  liberty.  We  have  no  selfish  ends  to  serve. 
We  desire  no  conquest,  no  dominion.  We  seek  no  indemnities 
for  ourselves,  no  material  compensation  for  the  sacrifices  we 
shall  freely  make.  We  are  but  one  of  the  champions  of  the 
rights  of  mankind.  We  shall  be  satisfied  when  those  rights  have 
been  made  as  secure  as  the  faith  and  the  freedom  of  nations 
can  make  them.  .  .  . 

It  is  a  distressing  and  oppressive  duty,  Gentlemen  of  the 
Congress,  which  I  have  performed  in  thus  addressing  you. 
There  are,  it  may  be,  many  months  of  fiery  trial  and  sacrifice 
ahead  of  us.  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  lead  this  great  peaceful 
people  into  war,  into  the  most  terrible  and  disastrous  of  all  wars, 
civilization  itself  seeming  to  be  in  the  balance.  But  the  right  is 
more  precious  than  peace,  and  we  shall  fight  for  the  things  which 
we  have  always  carried  nearest  our  hearts  —  for  democracy,  for 
the  right  of  those  who  submit  to  authority  to  have  a  voice  in  their 
own  governments,  for  the  rights  and  liberties  of  small  nations, 
for  a  universal  dominion  of  right  by  such  a  concert  of  free  peoples 
as  shall  bring  peace  and  safety  to  all  nations  and  make  the  world 
itself  at  last  free.  To  such  a  task  we  can  dedicate  our  lives  and 
our  fortunes,  everything  that  we  are  and  everything  that  we  have, 
with  the  pride  of  those  who  know  that  the  day  has 'come  when 
America  is  privileged  to  spend  her  blood  and  her  might  for  the 
principles  that  gave  her  birth  and  happiness  and  the  peace  which 
she  has  treasured.  God  helping  her,  she  can  do  no  other. 


584       History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 
PARTICIPATION 

The  following  description  of  the  first  major  operation 
°^  ^e  American  army  on  European  soil,  the  reduction  of 
the  St.  Mihiel  salient,  September  12-15,  1918,  is  taken 
from  General  Pershing's  report  to  the  Secretary  of  War, 
dated  September  i,  1919: 

At  Bourbon  on  July  24  there  was  a  conference  of  all  the 
Commanders-in- Chief  for  the  purpose  of  considering  Allied 
operations.  Each  presented  proposals  for  the  employment  of 
the  armies  under  his  command.  ...  As  the  first  operation  of 
the  American  Army,  the  reduction  of  the  salient  of  St.  Mihiel 
was  to  be  undertaken  as  soon  as  the  necessary  troops  and  mate 
rial  could  be  made  available.  On  account  of  the  swampy  nature 
of  the  country  it  was  especially  important  that  the  movement 
be  undertaken  and  finished  before  the  fall  rains  should  begin; 
which  was  usually  about  the  middle  of  September.  .  .  . 

The  force  of  American  soldiers  in  France  at  that  moment 
was  sufficient  to  carry  out  this  offensive,  but  they  were  dis 
persed  along  the  front  from  Switzerland  to  the  Channel.  ...  To 
assemble  combat  divisions  and  service  troops  and  undertake  a 
major  operation  within  the  short  peri©d  available  and  with  staffs 
so  recently  organized,  was  an  extremely  difficult  task.  Our  defi 
ciencies  in  Artillery,  Aviation,  and  special  troops,  caused  by  the 
shipment  of  an  undue  proportion  of  Infantry  and  Machine  Guns 
during  the  summer,  were  largely  met  by  the  French. 

The  reduction  of  the  St.  Mihiel  salient  was  important,  as  it 
would  prevent  the  enemy  from  interrupting  traffic  on  the  Paris- 
Nancy  Railroad  by  artillery  fire  and  would  free  the  railroad  lead 
ing  north  through  St.  Mihiel  to  Verdun.  It  would  also  provide 
us  with  an  advantageous  base  of  departure  for  an  attack  against 
the  Metz-Sedan  Railroad  system  which  was  vital  to  the  German 
armies  west -of  Verdun,  and  against  the  Briey  Iron  Basin  which 
was  necessary  for  the  production  of  German  armament  and 
munitions.  ...  As  the  part  to  be  taken  by  the  Second  French 
Army  would  be  closely  related  to  the  attack  of  the  First 


America  and  the  World  War  585 

American  Army,  Gen.  Petain  placed  all  the  French  troops 
involved  under  my  personal  command. 

By  August  30,  the  concentration  of  the  scattered  divisions, 
corps,  and  army  troops,  of  the  quantities  of  supplies  and  muni 
tions  required,  and  the  necessary  construction  of  light  railways 
and  roads,  were  well  under  way.  .  .  . 

On  the  night  of  September  1 1 ,  the  troops  of  the  First  Army 
were  deployed  in  position.  On  the  southern  face  of  the  salient 
was  the  First  Corps,  Maj.  Gen.  Liggett  commanding,  with  the 
Eighty-second,  Ninetieth,  Fifth,  and  Second  Divisions  in  line, 
extending  from  the  Moselle  westward.  [Then  follows  the  dis 
position  of  the  divisions  under  Generals  Dickmann,  Cameron, 
and  Blandlat]  .  .  .  The  French  independent  air  force  was  at 
my  disposal,  which,  together  with  the  British  bombing  squadrons 
and  our  own  air  forces,  gave  us  the  largest  assembly  of  aviation 
that  had  ever  been  engaged  in  one  operation.  Our  heavy  guns 
were  able  to  reach  Metz  and  to  interfere  seriously  with  German 
rail  movements. 

At  dawn  on  September  1 2 ,  after  four  hours  of  violent  artil 
lery  fire  of  preparation,  and  accompanied  by  small  tanks,  the 
Infantry  of  the  First  and  Fourth  Corps  advanced.  The  Infantry 
of  the  Fifth  Corps  began  its  advance  at  8  A.  M.  The  operation 
was  carried  out  with  entire  precision.  Just  after  daylight  on 
September  13,  elements  of  the  First  and  Twenty-sixth  Divisions 
made  a  junction  near  Hattonchatel  and  Vignuelles,  18  kilo 
meters  north-east  of  St.  Mihiel.  The  rapidity  with  which  our 
divisions  advanced  overwhelmed  the  enemy,  and  all  objectives 
were  reached  by  the  afternoon  of  September  13.  The  enemy 
had  apparently  started  to  withdraw  some  of  his  troops  from  the 
tip  of  the  salient  on  the  eve  of  our  attack,  but  had  been  un 
able  to  carry  it  through.  We  captured  nearly  16,000  prisoners, 
443  guns,  and  large  stores  of  materials  and  supplies.  The 
energy  and  swiftness  with  which  these  operations  were  carried 
out  enabled  us  to  smother  opposition  to  such  an  extent  that  we 
suffered  less  than  7000  casualties  during  the  actual  period  of 
the  advance.  .  .  . 

The  material  results  of  the  victory  achieved  were  very  impor 
tant.  An  American  Army  was  an  accomplished  fact,  and  the 


586      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

enemy  had  felt  its  power.  No  form  of  propaganda  could  over 
come  the  depressing  effect  on  the  morale  of  the  enemy  of  this 
demonstration  of  our  ability  to  organize  a  large  American  force 
and  drive  it  successfully  through  his  defenses.  It  gave  our 
troops  implicit  confidence  in  their  superiority  and  raised  their 
morale  to  the  highest  pitch.  For  the  first  time  wire  entangle 
ments  ceased  to  be  regarded  as  impassable  barriers,  and  open- 
warfare  training,  which  had  been  so  ardently  insisted  upon, 
proved  to  be  the  correct  doctrine.  Our  divisions  concluded  the 
attack  with  such  small  losses  and  in  such  high  spirits  that  with 
out  the  usual  rest  they  were  immediately  available  for  employ 
ment  in  heavy  fighting  in  a  new  theater  of  operations.  The 
strength  of  the  First  Army  in  this  battle  totaled  approximately 
500,000  men,  of  whom  about  70,000  were  French. 


PROBLEMS  OF  PEACE 

124.  Labor  The  World  War  was  not  simply  a  contest  between  the 
6  war  Central  Powers  and  the  Entente  Allies.  It  was  also  a  con 
flict  between  two  political  ideals,  autocracy  and  democracy. 
Since  the  war  it  has  been  realized  more  keenly  than  ever 
before  that  political  democracy  is  a  mere  sham  unless  it 
works  towards  greater  industrial  democracy.  The  peculiarly 
important  situation  and  demands  of  labor  after  the  war  are 
illustrated  in  the  following  extracts.  The  first  is  from  an 
address  of  Basil  Manly  at  the  46th  National  Conference 
of  Social  Work,  at  Atlantic  City,  in  June,  1919: 

We  are  about  to  enter  a  period  of  the  most  acute  industrial 
unrest  and  the  most  bitter  industrial  controversy  that  the  Amer 
ican  nation  has  ever  known.  Unless  effective  and  radical  steps 
are  taken  to  bring  about  a  better  understanding  between  capital 
and  labor  and  to  establish  an  equitable  basis  for  orderly  industrial 
progress  we  are  certain  to  see  within  the  next  year  strikes  and 
mass  movements  of  labor  beside  which  all  previous  American 
strikes  will  pale  into  insignificance.  .  .  . 


America  and  the  World  War  587 

Those  who  regard  the  American  industrial  situation  with  com 
placency  ignore  both  the  psychology  of  the  workers  and  the 
compelling  facts.  The  workers  of  the  allied  world  have  been 
told  that  they  were  engaged  in  a  war  for  democracy,  that  out 
of  the  ruins  of  the  war  would  arise  a  new  and  more  beautiful 
world.  They  are  asking  now,  "  Where  is  that  democracy  for 
which  we  fought  ?  When  are  we  to  enter  into  this  new  world 
with  its  greater  regard  for  the  rights  of  the  common  man  ? " 
They  see  no  change  for  the  better,  but  they  find  themselves  in 
conditions  in  many  respects  worse  than  those  against  which  we 
protested  before  we  entered  the  war.  The  masses  of  the  people 
are  being  rapidly  disillusioned,  and  when  the  people  lose  their 
illusions  there  is  danger  ahead.  They  have  seen  the  prices  of 
nearly  every  commodity,  including  rents,  advance  so  far  beyond 
the  increases  which  they  have  secured  in  their  weekly  wages 
since  the  beginning  of  the  war  that  they  are  now  actually  able  to 
buy  less  of  the  necessities  of  life  than  before  the  war  began.  .  .  . 

But  it  is  not  merely  that  the  cost  of  living  is  high  and  beyond 
the  capacity  of  the  wage-earner's  pocketbook.  This  might  be 
endured  with  some  degree  of  patience  and  fortitude  if  the  people 
who  toiled  believed  that  no  one  was  profiting  from  their  neces 
sities,  and  that  all  were  bearing  the  burden  alike.  But  they  have 
seen  with  their  own  eyes  and  heard  with  their  own  ears  of  the 
unconscionable  profiteering  of  American  corporations  during  the 
war  and  they  know  that  the  same  profiteering  is  now  continu 
ing  unabated.  I  have  just  completed  a  study  of  the  earnings 
of  eighty-two  representative  American  corporations,  a  record 
of  whose  profits  is  available  for  each  year  from  1911  through 
1918.  .  .  .  A  compilation  of  these  figures  shows  that  the 
same  eighty-two  corporations  which,  in  the  pre-war  years,  had 
an  average  net  income  of  $325,000,000,  had  net  incomes  in 
1916  amounting  to  more  than  $1,000,000,000,  in  1917  of 
$975,000,000,  and  in  1918  of  $736,000,000.  This  is  after  the 
deduction  of  every  dollar  of  State  and  Federal  taxes,  and  of  every 
conceivable  charge  which  these  companies  could  devise  for  re 
ducing  and  concealing  their  apparent  profits.1  This  is  profiteering 

1  The  Federal  Trade  Commission  reported  the  following  facts  on 
profiteering  to  the  Senate,  June  29,  1918.  The  net  income  of  the  United 


588      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

with  a  vengeance,  and  the  profiteers  may  well  tremble  lest  the 
people  avenge  themselves  for  this  shameless  exploitation  during 
a  period  of  the  nation's  greatest  necessity.  .  .  . 

Wise  men  know  also  that  the  labor  movement  has  greatly 
increased  its  strength  in  recent  years.  At  least  2,000,000  men 
have  been  added  to  the  ranks  of  organized  labor  in  America 
during  the  war.  A  million  have  been  organized  on  the  railways 
alone.  .  .  .  American  labor  is  more  conscious  than  ever  of '  its 
power  and  of  its  rights.  It  will  demand  the  abolition  of  age-old 
injustices.  Labor  has  been  in  the  harness  for  untold  centuries. 
The  harness  has  become  heavy  and  galling,  but  labor  does  not 
now  ask  that  the  harness  be  lightened  or  that  the  share  of  oats 
and  hay  be  enlarged.  Labor  now  demands  the  right  to  climb 
into  the  driver's  seat  and  help  control  the  machinery  which  draws 
the  lumbering  chariot  of  modern  industry. 

On  April  28,  1919,  the  following  clauses  on  labor,  pro 
posed  by  the  Commission  on  International  Labor  Legisla 
tion,  were  adopted  by  the  Plenary  Session  of  the  Peace  Con 
ference  at  Versailles  to  be  inserted  in  the  Treaty  of  Peace. 

The  High  Contracting  Parties,  recognizing  that  the  well-being, 
physical,  moral,  and  intellectual,  of  industrial  wage-earners  is  of 
supreme  international  importance,  have  framed  a  permanent 
machinery  associated  with  that  of  the  League  of  Nations  to 
further  this  great  end.  They  recognize  that  difference  of  climate, 
habits,  and  customs  of  economic  opportunity  and  industrial  tra 
dition  make  strict  uniformity  in  the  conditions  of  labor  difficult 
of  immediate  attainment.  But,  holding  as  they  do,  that  labor 

States  Steel  Corporation,  before  deducting  income  and  excess-profits 
taxes,  was  $478,204,343  in  1917,  as  against  $294,026,564  in  1916  and 
$97,967,962  in  1915.  The  profit  in  lumber  was  $4.83  per  1000  board  feet 
in  1917,  as  against  $2.11  in  1916.  Four  great  meat-packing  houses 
whose  average  pre-war  profit  was  $19,000,000  earned  excess  profits  over 
the  pre-war  periods  of  $36,000,000  in  1916  and  $68,000,000  in  1917. 
One  leather  company  reported  profits  of  $945,051.37  in  1915  and 
$3,576,544.27  in  1917.  A  list  of  highly  padded  salaries  to  advisers, 
auditors,  secretaries,  etc.,  is  appended.  See  Senate  Document  No.  259, 
65th  Congress,  2d  Session. 


America  and  the  World  War  589 

should  not  be  regarded  merely  as  an  article  of  commerce,  they 
think  that  there  are  methods  and  principles  for  the  ratifica 
tion  of  labor  conditions  which  all  industrial  communities  should 
endeavor  to  apply  so  far  as  their  special  circumstances  will  permit. 

Among  these  methods  and  principles,  the  following  seem  .  .  . 
to  be  of  special  and  urgent  importance : 

ist  The  guiding  principle  above  enunciated  that  labor  should 
not  be  regarded  merely  as  a  commodity  or  article  of  commerce. 

2d  The  right  of  association  for  all  lawful  purposes  by  the 
employed  as  well  as  by  the  employers. 

•  3d  The  payment  to  the  employed  of  a  wage  adequate  to 
maintain  a  reasonable  standard  of  life  as  this  is  understood  in 
their  time  and  country. 

4th  The  adoption  of  an  eight-hour  day  or  a  forty-eight-hour 
week  as  the  standard  to  be  aimed  at  where  it  has  not  already 
been  obtained. 

5th  The  adoption  of  a  weekly  rest  of  at  least  twenty-four 
hours  which  should  include  Sunday  whenever  practicable. 

6th  The  abolition  of  child  labor  and  the  imposition  of  such 
limitations  on  the  labor  of  young  persons  as  shall  permit  the 
continuation  of  their  education  and  assure  their  proper  physical 
development. 

7th  The  principle  that  men  and  women  should  receive  equal 
remuneration  for  work  of  equal  value. 

8th  The  standard  set  by  law  in  each  country  with  respect  to 
the  conditions  of  labor  should  have  due  regard  to  the  equitable 
economic  treatment  of  all  workers  lawfully  resident  therein. 

9th  Each  state  should  make  provision  for  a  system  of  inspec 
tion  in  which  women  should  take  part  in  order  to  insure  the 
enforcement  of  the  laws  and  regulations  for  the  protection  of 
the  employed. 

Without  claiming  that  these  methods  and  principles  are  either 
complete  or  final,  the  High  Contracting  Parties  are  of  opinion 
that  they  are  well  fitted  to  guide  the  policy  of  the  League  of 
Nations  and  that  if  adopted  by  the  industrial  communities  who 
are  members  of  the  League  and  safeguarded  in  practice  by 
an  adequate  system  of  such  inspection  they  will  confer  lasting 
benefits  on  the  wage-earner  of  the  world. 


59°      History  of  the  Republic  since  the  Civil  War 

In  his  message  to  Congress  of  May  20,  1919,  President 
Wilson  said  : 

The  question  which  stands  at  the  front  of  all  others  in  every 
country  amidst  the  present  great  awakening  is  the  question  of 
labor ;  and  perhaps  I  can  speak  of  it  with  as  great  advantage 
while  engrossed  in  the  consideration  of  interests  which  affect  all 
countries  alike  as  I  could  at  home  amidst  the  interests  which 
naturally  most  affect  my  thought,  because  they  are  the  interests 
of  our  own  people.1 

By  the  question  of  labor  I  do  not  mean  the  question  of 
efficient  industrial  production,  the  question  of  how  labor  is  to 
be  obtained  and  made  effective  in  the  great  process  of  sustaining 
populations  and  winning  success  amidst  commercial  and  indus 
trial  rivalries.  I  mean  that  much  greater  and  more  vital  ques 
tion,  How  are  the  men  and  women  who  do  the  daily  labor  of  the 
world  to  obtain  progressive  improvement  in  the  conditions  of 
their  labor,  to  be  made  happier,  and  to  be  served  better  by  the 
communities  and  the  industries  which  their  labor  sustains  and 
advances  ?  How  are  they  to  be  given  their  right  advantages  as 
citizens  and  human  beings  ? 

We  cannot  go  any  further  in  our  present  direction.  We  have 
already  gone  too  far.  We  cannot  live  our  right  life  as  a  nation 
or  achieve  our  proper  success  as  an  industrial  community  if 
capital  and  labor  are*to  continue  to  be  antagonistic  instead  of 
being  partners ;  if  they  are  to  continue  to  distrust  one  another 
and  contrive  how  they  can  get  the  better  of  one  another,  or 
what  perhaps  amounts  to  the  same  thing,  calculate  by  what 
form  and  degree  of  coercion  they  can  manage  to  extort  on  the 
one  hand  work  enough  to  make  enterprise  profitable,  on  the 
other,  justice  and  fair  treatment  enough  to  make  life  tolerable. 
The  bad  road  has  turned  out  a  blind  alley.  It  is  no  thoroughfare 
to  real  prosperity.  We  must  find  another,  leading  in  another 
direction  and  to  a  very  different  destination.  It  must  lead  not 
merely  to  accommodation,  but  also  to  a  genuine  cooperation 

1  President  Wilson  was  at  Paris  in  the  midst  of  the  peace  conference 
when  he  sent  this  message  to  Congress,  which  he  had  called  in  extra 
session  for  May  19,  1919. 


America  and  the  World  War  591 

and  partnership  based  upon  a  real  community  of  interest  and 
participation  in  control.  .  .  . 

Labor  legislation  lies,  of  course,  chiefly  with  the  States ;  but 
the  new  spirit  and  method  of  organization  which  must  be  effected 
are  not  to  be  brought  about  by  legislation  so  much  as  by  the 
common  counsel  and  voluntary  cooperation  of  capitalist,  man 
ager,  and  workman.  Legislation  can  go  only  a  very  little  way 
in  commanding  what  shall  be  done.  .  .  .  Those  who  really 
desire  a  new  relationship  between  capital  and  labor  can  readily 
find  a  way  to  bring  it  about ;  and  perhaps  Federal  legislation 
can  help  more  than  State  legislation  could. 

The  object  of  all  reform  in  this  essential  matter  must  be  the 
genuine  democratization  of  industry,  based  upon  a  full  recog 
nition  of  the  right  of  those  who  work,  in  whatever  rank,  to  par 
ticipate  in  some  organic  way  in  every  decision  which  directly 
affects  their  welfare  or  the  part  they  are  to  play  in  industry. 
Some  positive  legislation  is  practicable. 

The  Congress  has  already  shown  the  way  to  one  reform  which 
should  be  world  wide,  by  establishing  the  eight-hour  day  as  the 
standard  day  in  every  field  of  labor  over  which  it  can  exercise 
control.  It  has  sought  to  find  the  way  to  prevent  child  labor, 
and  will,  I  hope  and  believe,  presently  find  it.  It  has  served  the 
whole  community  by  leading  the  way  in  developing  the  means 
of  preserving  and  safeguarding  life  and  health  in  dangerous 
industries.  It  can  now  help  in  the  difficult  task  of  giving  a  new 
form  and  spirit  to  industrial  organization.  .  .  . 

Agencies  of  international  counsel  and  suggestion  are  presently 
to  be  created  in  connection  with  the  League  of  Nations  in  this 
very  field  [see  preceding  extract] ;  but  it  is  national  action  and 
the  enlightened  policy  of  individuals,  corporations,  and  societies 
within  each  nation  that  must  bring  about  the  actual  reforms. 
The  members  of  the  committees  on  labor  in  the  two  houses 
will  hardly  nee'd  suggestions  from  me  as  to  what  means  they 
shall  seek  to  make  the  Federal  Government  the  agent  of  the 
whole  nation  in  pointing  out,  and,  if  need  be,  guiding  the  process 
of  reorganization  and  reform. 


INDEX 


ABC  Powers,  575 
Aberdeen,  Lord,  312  f. 
Abolitionists,  301  f.,  318  f.,  319  n., 

395'  398 

Aceldama,  33  n. 

Achilles,  shield  of,  344 

Adams,  Charles  Francis,  419, 
473  n-»  47 S»  477  n.  2 

Adams,  John,  1 38  n. ;  envoy  in  Paris, 
147  n. ;  minister  to  England, 
167  n.  2  ;  vice  president,  190; 
president,  200  n.,  201;  rebukes 
French  Directory,  202  n.  2,  203  ; 
congratulates  son,  258  ;  referred 
to,  498 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  247 ;  ulti 
matum  to  Spain,  249  n. ;  on 
Jackson's  conduct,  249  n. ; 
"  Memoirs,"  249  n.,  255  f.,  276  n., 
294  f.,  295  n.,  314  n.,  329  n.; 
referred  to,  306  n.  2,  324,  -325  n. 

Adams,  Samuel,  1 20  f. 

Adelantado,  15 

Alabama,  400?.,  435 

Alabama,  the,  473  f.,  478 

Alaska,  480 

Albany,  51,  90,  92  f.,  95 

Albany  plan  of  union,  the,  94  f. 

Albert,  Prince,  417 

Alexander,  General  E.  P.,  425  f. 

Alexander,  James,  95,  98 

Alexander  of  Neckam,  5 

Alien  and  Sedition  Acts,  205,  207 

Almon,  John,  123  n. 

Altgeld,  Governor  J.  P.,  530  f. 

Ambrose,  Saint,  4,  87  n.  2 

Amendments:  Thirteenth,  438  f., 
468  n.  2  ;  Fourteenth,  460  f., 
461  n.,  468  n.  3  ;  Fifteenth,  468 
n.  4 

American  army  in  France,  584  f. 

American  Colonization  Society, 
302  f.,  308  n. 


Anderson,  Major  Robert,  401  f. 

Andros,  Sir  Edmund,  46  f.,  48,  50 

Angouleme,  Duke  of,  252  n. 

Annapolis,   172 

Anti-imperialists,  552  f. 

Apia,  522  f. 

Appomattox,    440  f.,   462  n.,   464, 

478 

Arkansas,  15 
Arnold,  Benedict,  344 
Arthur,  Chester  A.,  501  f.,  508 
Articles  of  Confederation,  125  n., 

168  and  n.,  172  and  n.,  181,  196, 

382 

Assignats,  489 
Astoria,  260 
Athens,  3 
Atlanta,  464  f.,  518 
Augustine,  Saint,  87  n.  2 

Bacon,  Francis,  236 

Bacon,  Nathaniel,  30  f. 

Baltimore,  243,  286,  365  f. 

Bancroft,  George,  328  n.  2,  332  f. 

Bank,  National,  245,  267 

Barbados,  49 

Barlow,  Joel,  204  f. 

Barren,  James,  224,  227 

Bates,  Edward,  385  f.  and  n. 

Baton  Rouge,  422  n.,  423,  425 

Bayard,  James,  533 

Beauregard,  General  P.  G.  J.,4O2, 
406 

Bede,  the  Venerable,  5 

Benton,  Thomas  H.,  on  Oregon, 
259  f. ;  on  expunging  resolution, 
269  n. ;  attack  of,  on  54°  40', 
322  f. ;  confers  with  Polk,  327  n., 

331 

Berkeley,  Admiral,  226  n. 
Berkeley,  Governor  William,  28, 31 
Berlin,  525  and  n. 

Bermudas,  144 


593 


594 


Index 


Bernard,  Governor  Francis,  124 

Berwick  on  Tweed,  73  f. 

"  Black  codes,"  the,  455  n. 

Blaine,  James  G.,  468  n.  5,  470  n.; 
tribute  to  Garfield,  494  f. ;  nom 
inated  in  1884,  505,  510 ;  on 
Cleveland's  message  of  1887, 
515  f. 

Blair,  Francis  P.,  385 

Blair,  Montgomery,  437  n. 

Block,  Adrian,  52  n. 

Blockade,  proclamation  of,  410 

Blount,  Thomas,  225 

Boston,  England,  39 

Boston,  Mass.,  48  f.,  114,  212,  240, 
282,  283,  41 1,  563 

Boutwell,  George  S.,  546 

Bowman,  Captain  Joseph,  148  f., 

J53 
Bradford,  Governor  William,   34, 

Bradshawe,  John,  27 

Bragg,  General  Braxton,  508 

Brazil,  304 

Breckenridge,  J.  C.,  209 

Brewerton,  Douglas,  367 

Brewster,  William,  35 

Bright,  John,  417  f.,  418  n.,  475 

Brougham,  Lord,  312,  314 

Brown,  B.  Gratz,  473  n. 

Brown,  John,  379  n. 

Brownists,  34  n. 

Bryan,  William  J.,  542  f.,  577  f. 

Bryce,  James,  265 

Buchanan,    James,    Secretary    of 

State,    327  n.,    328,    331,    334; 

minister  to  England,  353  f.,  356; 

president,  391  f.,  394,  398,  435, 

453 

Buffalo,  509 
Bull  Run,  414 

Bunau-Varilla,  Philippe,  556,  560 
Burgesses,  House  of,  24,  27,  32, 

123,  153 

Burgoyne,  General  John,  143 
Burke,  Edmund,  i34n. 
Burnaby,   Reverend   Andrew,   74, 

77  f. 

Burton,  Thomas  E.,  562 
Butler,  General  B.  F.,  413  n.,  423, 

508 
Byrd,  Colonel  William,  99  n. 


Cadiz,  550  f. 

Cahokia,  149 

Calhoun,  John  C.,  in  election  of 
1824,  255 ;  on  tariff  of  1828, 
261  f.;  negotiates  over  Texas, 
312,  315  f.,  318  n.  3,  319  n. ;  on 
Mexican  war,  334 ;  on  Wilmot 
Proviso,  348 ;  on  slavery,  348  f ., 

35°  n- 3 

Calhoun- Davis  theory,  359  and  n.  2 
California,  330,  334  f.,  342,  395  n., 

492 

Callender,  Guy  S.,  305,  306  n. 
Cambridge,  England,  24,  39 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  82  f.,  130,  133, 

138 

Camden,  Lord  Chancellor,  121  n. 
Cameron,  Simon,  386  and  n. 
Canada,  88  n.,  92,  107,  259,  351, 

415'  479 
Canning,  George,  260,  324  and  n., 

325 

Canning,  Stratford,  306  n.  2 
Cape  Cod,  37,  57  f. 
Cape  Diamond,  104 
Cape  of  Eleven  Thousand  Virgins, 

12 

Cape  of  Good  Hope,  14,  220 

Cape  Henry,  226 

Cape 'Horn,  212,  220 

Cape  Verde  Islands,  14 

"  Capitulations,"  the,  6 

Carlisle,  John  G.,  544 

Carmarthen,  Lord,  167  n.  2 

Carranza,  General,  574  f. 

Carrington,  Colonel  Edward,  195 

Carson,  Kit,  367 

Cass,  Lewis,  360 

Cathay,  7 

Chandler,  Senator  Zachariah,  478  f . 

Charles  I,  king  of  England,  28  n., 

43'  49'  439 
Charles  II,  king  of  England,  27  f., 

38  n.,  42  f.,  46  f.,  49,  66  f.,  88  and 

n.  3,  95  n. 
Charleston,     S.  C.,    275,     281  n., 

401  f.,  563 

Charlestown,  Mass.,  82  f. 
Chase,  Salmon  P.,  386  and  n.,  387, 

457  n. 

Chase,  Samuel,  246  n. 
Chattanooga,  430 


Index 


595 


Chesapeake  Bay,  26,  33,  224  f. 

Chicago,  329,  384,  505,  507,  526  f., 
542 

Child  labor,  287,  571  f.,  579 

China,  9,  13,  22 

Cincinnati,  237,  470 

Cincinnatus,  173 

Circular  Letter,  the,  114,  I2of. 

Civil-service  reform,  499  f. 

Civil  War,  the,  156,  303  n.,  403  n., 
408  f.,  480,  485 

Clark,  George  Rogers,  148  f.,2i8n. 

Clay,Henry,  onWar  of  1812,  227f.; 
in  election  of  1824,  255  f. ;  criti 
cizes  Jackson,  267  f. ;  letter  on 
Texas,  318  and  n.  2,  497  ;  his 
Compromise  of  1850,  341  n. 

Claybourne,  William,  26 

Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty,  559  n.  2 

Cleveland,  Grover,  nominated  in 
1884,  505,  507  ;  tribute  to,  508  ;  on 
tariff,  511  f.;  in  Pullman  strike, 
526  f. ;  in  Venezuela,  532  f. ;  on 
conservation,  560 

Cobb,  Howell,  352,  394  f.,  398  f., 
453'  457  n.,  458 

Cobden,  Richard,  418  n.,  475 

Colbert,  86  and  n. 

Colon,  557  f. 

Colonies,  American,  72  f.,  77  f., 
inf.,  164 

Colton,  Reverend  Walter,  335 

Columbia,  S.  C.,  278 

Columbia  River  and  valley,  212 
and  n.,  259  f,,  323  f. 

Columbus,  4  f.,  9  f.,  22 

Columbus,  Diego,  9 

Columbus,  New  Mexico,  574 

"  Commemoration  Ode,"  the,  448 

"Common  Sense,"  138 

Commonwealth,  the  English,  26 

Concord,  Mass.,  129  and  n.,  132 

Confiscation  Acts,  412 

Connecticut,  53,  58  n.  2,  123 

Conservation,  560  f. 

Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
recommended  by  Hamilton, 
i68f.,  171  n.  2  and  3;  framed, 
I72f. ;  opinion  of  Franklin  on, 
1 7  5  f . ;  sent  to  states,  176;  obj  ec- 
tions  to,  177  f.,  180,  186;  opin 
ions  of  Jefferson  and  Hamilton 


on,   192  f. ;  violated,   206  f.;  ex 
pounded    by    Marshall,    243  f. 
expounded  by  Calhoun,  262  f. 
expounded  by  Jackson,  266  f. 
expounded  by  Webster,  273  f. 
expounded    by    legislature     of 
South     Carolina,     277  f. ;      ex 
pounded     by     Nashville     con 
vention,   346  f. ;   expounded  by 
Lincoln,   382 f.;   expounded  by 
Davis,  435;  and  slavery,  296  f., 
360  f.,  374,  378,  388  f. ;   and  Su 
preme  Court,  376  n.  2 

Constitutional  convention,    172  f., 
176,  178  n. 

Continental  Congress,  115 

Conway,  M.  D.,  138  and  n. 

Cooper,  Thomas,  261  n. 

Cooper  Institute  speech,  378,  381 

Corbett,  Thomas,  224 

Cormvallis,  General  Charles,  153  f. 

Cotton,  John,  39  f. 

Coxe,  Tench,  i66f.,  168  n. 

Crawford,  General  S.  W.,  402  n., 

403 

Crawford,  William  H.,  255  f. 
Crittenden,  Senator  J.  J.,  389  n. 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  26  f. 
Cromwell,  Richard,  27 
Cuba,  1 6,  304,  353  f.,  547  f.,  550 
Currency,  486  f.,  542  f. 
Cutler,  Manasseh,  187 

Danckaerts,  Jasper,  82 

Dash,  Mistress,  187  f. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  378,  430  f.,  436  f., 

437  n. 

Dawson,  Sarah  M.,  421  f. 
Day,  William  R.,  550 
Deane,  Silas,  118,  142,  144 
Decatur,  Captain  Stephen,  225 
Declaration  of  Independence,  115, 

180,  375,  382,  395,  555 
Declaratory  Act,  the,  120 
"  Democracy  in  America,"  265 
Denonville,  governor  of  Canada, 

88  f. 

Depew,  Chauncey  M.,  518  n. 
De  Soto,  i5f. 

De  Tocqueville,  Alexis,  265,  309  f. 
Dewey,  Admiral  George,  549  f. 
Dickens,  Charles,  237  n. 


596 


Index 


Dickinson,  John,  120,  125  and  n., 

133  and  n. 
Dinwiddie,  Governor  Robert,  99 f. 

102,  104  and  n. 
Directory,  French,  200  f.,  205 
"  Discourse  on  Western  Planting," 

21  f. 
District   of    Columbia,    347,    503, 

57i 

Dix,  John  A.,  295  n.  2 
Dongan,  Governor  Thomas,  87  f. 
Doubleday,  Abner,  401 
Douglas,    Stephen    A.,    360,    374, 

378,  395  n. 

Douglass,  Frederick,  362  n.,  365 
Drake,  Sir  Francis,  18 
Dred  Scott  Decision,  373  f. 
Duane,  James,  168 
Dudley,  Thomas,  38 
Dunster,  Henry,  81,  82  n. 
Dutch,  51  f.,  55  f. 

Eager,  Scipio,  462,  465 
Elizabeth,  queen  of  England,  i8f. 
Elvas,  gentleman  of,  15 
Emancipation  Proclamation,  438 
Embargo,  227 
immigrant  Aid  Society,  368 
Endicott,  John,  38 
Erving,  George  W.,  247,  249 
Essex,  1 8 

Evarts,  William  M.,  386 
Everett,  Edward,  314  and  n. 
"  Exposition    and    Protest,"    the, 
261  f. 

Faneuil  Hall,  344 
Farewell  Address,  the,  140  n. 
Farmers  and  railroads,  480  f. 
Farragut,  Admiral  David  G.,  422  n. 
Federalists,  183  f.,  197  f.,  205 
Ferdinand  I,  king  of  Spain,  7 
Ferdinand    VII,    king    of    Spain, 

252  n. 

"  Fifty-four-Forty,"  322  f. 
Filipinos,  522  f. 
Finland,  74 
Fleming,    W.   L.,  454  n.,   455  n., 

458  n.,  466  n. 

Florida,  15,  246  f.,  293,  321  and  n. 
Foote,  Andrew  H.,  432  n. 
Fort  Crevecceur,  86 


Fort  Frontenac,  86  n.,  90  n. 

Fort  Good  Hope,  57  f. 

Fort  Jackson,  422  n. 

Fort  Leavenworth,  367 

Fort  Moultrie,  401 

Fort  Nassau,  52  n.  2 

Fort  Orange,  51 

Fort  Pitt,  1 86 

Fort  St.  Philip,  422  n. 

Fort  Sumter,  381,  401  f.,  408,  472 

Fort  Warren,  421  f. 

Fortress  Monroe,  413  n.,  436 

Fourteenth  Amendment,  461  and 
n.,  462 

France,  treaty  with,  1 18, 140, 141  f., 
«65;  Jefferson  in,  192,  196;  war 
with  Austria  and  Prussia,  196  n., 
199;  in  American  Revolution, 
197  ;  our  obligation  to,  198  f. ; 
rebuked  by  Adams,  202  n.  2,  21 1 ; 
sells  us  Louisiana,  214,  218  f.; 
war  with  England,  222  ;  aggres 
sions  on  our  commerce,  222  f., 
227  f. ;  invades  Spain,  252  n.; 
abolishes  slavery  in  colonies, 
319!;  American  army  in,  584  f. 

Frankfort,  69 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  94;  on  Stamp 
Act,  118  f. ;  on  Hillsborough, 
124,  129  n. ;  agent  in  London, 
131  ;  recommends  Lafayette, 
142  ;  negotiations  with  France, 
142  n.,  144,  147  and  n.,  148,  167; 
character,  1 74 ;  address  to  con 
vention,  17 5 f.;  on  opportunities 
in  America,  183^;  referred  to, 
236 

Frazier,  John,  100  f. 

Free-Soil  party,  369  f. 

Freedman's  Bureau,  455  n. 

Freneau,  Philip,  195 

Frobisher,  Martin,  18 

Fugitive  Slave  Law, 353, 361,  396n. 

Fugitive  slaves,  362  and  n.  2,  363  f., 
377  n. 

Fulham  Palace,  34 

Gabote  (Cabot),  Sebastian,  21  f. 
Gadsden,  Christopher,  133  n. 
Gage,  General  Thomas,  128 
Garfield,  James  A.,  494  f .,  508 
Geneva,  474  f.,  477  n. 


Index 


597 


George  II,  king  of  England,  135 
George  III,  king  of  England,  1 1 1, 

!33f-»  138,  158 
Georgia,  15,  137   173,  294,  307,  352> 

388,  39T>  394f-»435>45in.,  462 n., 
463  f.,  518,  574  f. 
Georgia   platform,"  the,   352  f., 
361,  362  n.,  390 
Gerard,  C.  A.,  144  f. 
Germantown,  71 

Germany,  in  Samoa,    522  f. ;    our 
diplomatic  relations  with,  577  f. 
Gerry,  Elbridge,  177,  201  f. 
Gettysburg,  425  f.,  430,  433  and  n. 
Gibbons  vs.  Ogden,  243 
Gibraltar,  Strait  of,  3 
Giddings,  Joshua,  318 
Gilbert,  Sir  Humphrey,  19  f. 
Gist,  Christopher,  103 
Gold  seekers,  335  f. 
Gordon,    General    John    B.,   462 

and  n. 

Gordon,  William,  128  and  n. 
Governor's  Island,  54,  61 
Grady,  Henry  W.,  518  and  n. 
Granada,  6  f. 
Grant,  Fred  D.,  517 
Grant,  General  U.  S.,  in  Civil  War, 
432  n->  440  f. ;  on  tour  of  South, 
454  n.,  461,  464  ;  president,  468, 
469  n.,  472,  474  n.,  477  and  n., 
479»  485  and  n.,  508 
Gray,  Captain   Robert,   212,   ^14 

259  f- 

Gray,  Senator  George,  55of. 
Greece,  300 
Greeley,    Horace,    378  n.,    385  f., 

473  "-,  497 
Greenbacks,  487  f. 
Greene,  General  Nathanael,  155 
Grenville,  George,  in,  n8f.,  1^7 

133 

Gresham,  Walter  Q.,  532 
Guanaham,  7 
Guiana,  British,  539,  542 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  17,  304,  313 

Habeas  Corpus,  47 

Hakluyt,  Richard,  15,  18,  20  f. 

Half-King,  the,  100  f. 

Hall,  Captain  Basil,  238  f.  and  n 

Halstead,  Murat,  384 


Hamilton,  Alexander,  plea  for 
constitution,  i68f.  ;  character, 
1 73^-5  financial  measures,  192 
and  n. ;  opinion  of  Jefferson, 
194  f. 
Hamilton,  Governor  Henry,  194  f., 

275.  277 

Hamilton,  John,  225 
Hamlin,  Hannibal,  400 
Hammond,     James      H.,     394  f. 

and  n. 

Hampton,  General  Wade,  458  n. 
Hampton  Roads,  224  f.,  435  f. 
Hancock,    Governor    John,    137 

I43»  212 

Hanover,  House  of,  112 
Harrisburg  Convention,  255 
Harrison,  Benjamin,  560 
Harrisse,  Henri,  5 
Hartford,  Conn.,  57,  59,  60 
Harvard,  John,  80 
Harvard    College,    80  f.,    276  n., 

448 

Havana,  547  n. 
Hawkins,  John,  18 
Hawkins,  Richard,  18 
Hay,  John,  550,  556,  560 
Hay-Bunau-Varilla  Treaty,  556f. 
Hay-Pauncefote  Treaty,  5S9  n  2 
Hayes,  R.  B.,  470,  486 
Hayne,  Senator  Robert  Y.,  272 
Hayti,  8n,  351,  354n. 
Henry,  Patrick,    133  n.,  178,   210, 

2ii  n. 

Henry  IV,  king  of  France,  106 
Hercules,  Pillars  of,  3  f. 
Hill,  Governor  David  B.,  542 
Hillsborough,  Lord,  123^ 
Hoar,  Senator  George  F.,  546 
Holdernesse,  Lord,  99 
Holland,  24,  34  f.,  54,  60 
Holy  Alliance,  253  n.  2,  537 
Hopkins,  Mark,  495 
Hopkins,  Stephen,  ii5f. 
Houston,  D.  F.,  270  and  n. 
Hudson  Bay,  98 
Hudson  River,  51  and  n. 
Huerta,  General  Victoriano,  573  f. 
Humphreys,  Colonel,  189 
Hutchinson,  Anne,  38  n. 
Hutchinson,    Governor    Thomas 
38  f.,  ii4f- 


598 


Index 


"Ichabod,"  345 

Illinois,  86,  376  f.,  380  n.,  395  n., 
480  f.,  530  f. 

Imperialism,  546  f. 

Income  Tax  of  1913,  171  n. 

Independence  of  the  colonies  : 
arguments  for,  138  f.;  unfavor 
able  view  of,  165  f. 

Indiana,  395  n.,  571 

Indianapolis,  484 

Indies,  7,  9,  15,  157 

Industrial  Commission,  556  f. 

Inland  Waterways  Commission, 
560  f. 

Interstate  Commerce  Act,  485  n. 

Ireland,  19,  25,  73  f. 

Iroquois,  88,  93,  98 

Isabella,  queen  of  Spain,  10 

Jackson,  Andrew,  commander  in 
Indian  campaigns,  246  f. ;  candi 
date  for  president,  256^;  char 
acter,  265f.;  censured  by  Senate, 
267  f. ;  and  slavery,  275  f. ;  opin 
ion  on  Texas,  320 ;  referred  to, 
346  n.,  392 

Jackson,  Miss.,  347,  433 

Jacobins,  French,  200 

James  I,  king  of  P^ngland,  34  n., 

37,  43 

James  II,  king  of  England,  46, 
48  n.,  60,  88 

James  River,  31 

Jamestown,  Va.,  15,  24  f.,  31  f.,  302 

Java,  13 

Jay,  John,  133  n.,  147  n.,  171  n.  3, 
172  n. 

Jay  Treaty,  200 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  30  ;  on  petition 
to  George  III,  133  n. ;  minister 
at  Paris,  178  n.  2  ;  plan  for  gov 
ernment  of  West,  i8of.  ;  Sec 
retary  of  State,  192  f.,  197  n., 
199;  on  Kentucky  Resolutions, 
206,  209;  as  president,  2 ion., 
212  f.,  218  and  n.,  221,  227; 
policy,  243,  245,  246  n.,  259  n.; 
on  slavery,  297  n.,  301  n. ; 
referred  to,  498,  544 

Jeffreys,  Thomas,  106 

Jerusalem,  33  n. 

Jogues,  Isaac,  50  f. 


Johnson,  Andrew,  453,  454  n.,  455 

n.,  457  n.,  458  f.,  460 
"Johnson  Governments,"  459 
Johnston,  General  Joseph  E.,  454 
Juana  (Cuba),  7 
Judas,  33  n. 

Kalm,  Peter,  74,  75  f. 

Kansas,  360,  367  f.,  369  f.,  371  f., 

484 
Kansas-Nebraska  Act,  371  f.,  376 

n.  4 

Kaskaskia,  149 
Kemble,  Fanny,  278  f.,  280 
Kentucky,  252,  376  f.,  486,  540 
Kentucky  resolutions,  206 
Kieft,  Director  William,  51,  59 
Kimberley,  Rear  Admiral,  522 
King,   Rufus,    258,    294  f.,  307  n., 

320 

King  Philip's  War,  82  n. 
Kingston,  90  n. 

Knights  of  the  White  Camelia,  461 
Knox,  General  Henry,  189 
Knox,  Captain  John,  104 
Ku-Klux  Act,  461 
Ku-Klux  Klans,  461  f.,  469 

La  Barre,  Governor,  87  f. 
Labor  and  the  World  War,  586  f. 
Lafayette,  Marquis  de,  141  f. 
La  Follette,  Robert  M.,  576  and  n. 
La   Salle,  Rene    Robert  Cavelier 

de,  85  f.,  102 
Laurens,  Henry,  146 
Lawrence,  Kans.,  367,  369 
League  of  Nations,  588  f. 
Lear/Tobias,  188 
Le  Clercq,  Father,  85 
Lee,  Arthur,  118,  144 
Lee,  Richard  Henry,  178 
Lee,  Robert  E.,  425,  430,  433  and 

n.,  454  n.,  462  n.,  479 
Leipzig,  69 

Leopard,  the,  224,  226  f. 
Lewis  and  Clark  expedition,  218  f., 

221  n.,  259  f. 

Lexington,  Mass.,  I28f.,  131  f. 
Lexington,  Va.,  427 
Liberal  Republicans,  468  f. 
Liberia,  301  f.,  307  n. 
Liggett,  Major-General,  585 


Index 


599 


Lincoln,  Abraham,  on  Dred  Scott, 

373  f. ;  Cooper  Institute  speech, 
378f . ;  Springfield  speech,  380  n. ; 
election,  381  ;  inaugural,  381  f . ; 
nomination,    385  f. ;     effect    of 
election,  388  f.,  394 ;    policy  as 
president,  400,  408,  410,  413  n., 
414,  418  n.,  433  n.,  436  f. ;  assas 
sination,  445  f.,  480;  views  on 
Reconstruction,  457  n.,  477  ;  re 
ferred  to,  495,  508  f.,  555 

Lincoln-Douglas  debate,  360,  373, 

374  n.,  378 
Lind,  John,  572 
Liverpool,  254,  279  n.,  475 
Liverpool,  Lord,  324 
Livingston,  Edward,  215 
Livingston,  Robert  R.,  189 
Lisbon,  i  r 

London,  33,  34,  65,  128,  254 
London  Company,  37 
Long  Island,  54,  59,  61 
Longstreet,  General  James,  423 
Lords  Commissioners    of   Trade, 

95  n- 

Los  Angeles,  337  n. 
Louis  XIV,  king  of  France,  88  n., 

91  n. 

Louis  XVI,  king  of  France,  143  f. 
Louisburg,  105 
Louisiana,  214  f.,  216  f.,  241,  260, 

295,  421,433'  435 
Lowell,  James  Russell,  319  n.,  391, 

448,  553'  555 
Lowell,  Mass.,  283 
Loyalists,  i  53  f. 
Liisitania  notes,  577  f. 
Luzerne,  147  n. 
Luzon,  550,  554 
Lyons,   Lord,  414  n.,   415   and  n., 

416,  421  n. 

McClellan,  General  George  B.,4i6 
McCrary,  G.  H.,  485  n. 
McCullpch,  Hugh,  493  n. 
McCulloch  vs.  Maryland,  243 
McDuffie,  Senator  George,  270  f., 

3:9 

McGee,  W.  J.,  562 
McKenzie,  Sir  Alexander,  259  f. 
McKinley,  William,  495  n.,  546  f., 

560 


Maclay,  Senator  William,  190  f. 
McMaster,  J.  B.,  186,  282  f.,  337  n. 
Madison,  James,  174, 178  n.  2, 194  f., 

206,    209  f.,  222  n.,    223  f.,  227, 

229  f. 

Madrid,  247 
Magellan,  11,13 
Maine,  299 
Maluco,  14 
Manhattan,  51,  63 
Manila  Bay,  549  f. 
Manly,  Basil,  586 
Marcy,  William  L.,  353,  356 
Mardoch  ap  Owen,  22 
Marietta,  Ohio,  186 
Markham,  Edwin,  449 
Marryat,  Captain,  239  and  n. 
Marshall,  James  A.,  339  f. 
Marshall,  John,  201  f.,  243 
Martin  vs.  Hunter's  Lessee,  243 
"  Martin  Chuzzlewit,"  237  n. 
Martineau,  Harriet,  239  n.,  280  f. 
Maryland,  31,  77,  90,  92,  168,  245, 

367 

Mayo,  Admiral,  574 
Mason,  George,  I78f. 
Mason,   John   Y.,   353,  356,    415, 

421  n. 

Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  362 
Massachusetts,    34,    38,   42  f.,   46, 

58  n.  2,    114,   I2of.,   123,   i24f., 

128,  301,  344,  421  n.,  532,  545 
Matamoras,  330  n.,  331,  332  n. 
Matan,  13 

Mather,  Reverend  Cotton,  40  f. 
Mather,  Reverend  Increase,  48 
Mayflower,  the,  34,  37 
Meade,  General  George  B.,  433  n. 
"  Medea,"  the,  3 
Melampus,  the,  225  f. 
Membre,  Father,  85 
Memphis,  Tenn.,  i6n. 
Metz,  584- f. 
Mexico,  313  f.,  318  and  n.  2,  321, 

328  f.,  436,  442,  57  if. 
Michigan,  85  f.,  282,  476 
Milan,  4 

Milton,  John,  140,  300 
Mississippi,  347,  348  f.,  461 
Mississippi   River,  i  5,  85  f.,  148  f., 

219  n.,  221,  237,  241  f.,  260,  282, 

560,  565 


6oo 


Index 


Missouri,  295,  368  f.,  376  f.,  468 
and  n.,  470,  473  n. 

Missouri  Compromise,  294  f.,  305, 
307  n.,  359,  368,  376  n  3  and  4 

Missouri  River,  86,  218  f. 

Moires,  William,  153 

Monckton,  General  Robert,  104!. 

Monroe,  James,  178,  200  and  n., 
251  f.,  302,  303  n.,  324 

Monroe  Doctrine,  140  n.,  246  f., 
251  f.,  437,  533 

Monrovia,  303  and  n. 

Montcalm,  Marquis  de,  106 

Monterey,  Calif.,  335,  337  f. 

Montesquieu,  72 

Montgomery,  Ala.,  401,  435 

Morris,  Robert,  171  n.  3 

Moscoso,  Luis  de,  i6f. 

Mount  Vernon,  172 

Mozambique,  14 

Muhlenberg,  Major,  239 

Muzzey,  D.  S.,  "  American  His 
tory,"  91  n.,  134  n.,  142  n.,  167  n., 
192  n.,  312  n.,  321  n.,  342  n., 
350  n.,  378  n.,  379  n.,  422  n., 
437  n.,  455  n->  4$5  n.,  525  n., 
539  n.,  552  n. 

Napoleon  Bonaparte,  228  f. 

Napoleon  III,  437  n. 

Narrows,  the,  54  n.  2,  61  n. 

Nashville,  Tenn.,  346,  350  n. 

Navigation  Act  of  1660,  72  f. 

Nebraska,  360 

Necker,  Jacques,  165 

Netherlands,  19 

Neutrality  proclamation,  197  f. 

Nevada,  478 

New  Amsterdam,  51  f.,  62 

New  Castle,  69,  70  n. 

New   England,   34  f.,  37  f.,   52  f., 

59f.,66 

New  England  Confederation,  58  n.  2 
"  New  England's  First  Fruits,"  80 
Newfoundland,  98 
New    France,    50,   75  f.,   85,   91, 

98  f. 

New  Hampshire,  138  n.,  395  n. 
New  Haven,  58 
New  Holland,  51,  58 
New  Jersey,  123,  278,  282,  395  n., 

540 


New  Mexico,  330,  334,  342,  360 
New  Netherland,  51,  59,  60  f. 
New  Orleans,  241  f.,  422  n.,  423 
New  York  City,   50  f.,   138,   237, 
239  f.,  243,  278,  280,  283  f.,  366, 
378,  406  f.,  411,  497,  518  n. 
New  York  Colony,  46,  50,  87  f.,  98 
New   York    State,   390  f.,   395  n., 

545 

Niagara,  90 
Nicolls,  Richard,  61 
Non-intercourse  acts,  227 
Norfolk,  Va.,  225 
Norumbega,  22,  23 
Nova  Scotia,  98,  157 
Nullification,  208,  265  f.,  277 
Nyack,  61  n. 

Occomack,  33 

Odell,  Jonathan,  157 

Oglethorpe,  James,  291 

Ohio,  376  f.,  387,  390  f.,  486,  496, 

502 
Ohio  Company,  103,   104  n.,   186, 

204 

Ohio  River  and  valley,  99  f.,  242  f. 
"Olive  branch"  petition,  134  n.  2 
Olney,  Richard,  532  f. 
Omnibus  bill,  340  f. 
Onis,  Don  Luis  de,  247  f. 
Orders  in  Council,  228 
Ordinance  of  1787,  180  and  n. 
Ordway,  John,  221  f.  and  n. 
Oregon,  212  n.,  258  f.,  322  f. 
Ostend  Manifesto,  353  f. 
Oxford,  Lord,  30 
Oxford  University,  84  n. 
Oyster  Bay,  55,  59 

Pacific  Ocean,  12,  220,  260 
Packenham,  Richard,  312,  315  f., 

327  and  n. 
Paine,  i38f.  and  n. 
Palmerston,  Lord,  354  n.,  415  and 

n.,  474  n. 

Panama,  556,  557,  580 
Pango-Pango,  52 5  n. 
Panuco,  17 

Paris,  21,  144,  201,  515 
Parker,  Captain  John,  131  f. 
Parker,  Theodore,  344 
Parkman,  Francis,  87  n.  3 


Index 


60 1 


Parliament,  27,  72,   in  f.,   119  f., 

134  n. 

Pastorius,  Francis  Daniel,  09  f. 
Pauncefote,  Sir  Julian,  536 
Pawnee,  369  f. 
Peace    Conference   at  Versailles, 

588  f. 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  312  n.,  327  and  n. 
Pendleton,  George  H.,  502  f. 
Penn,  Richard,  133 
Penn,  William,  65,  66,  67  f.,  69  f. 
Pennsylvania,  67  f.,   69,  95,    118, 

125,  390  f. 
Pensacola,  250  f. 
Peoria,  86 
Pershing,  General  J.  J.,  report  of, 

584  f. 
Personal   Liberty  Acts,  363,  395, 

396  n. 

Peter  the  Great,  173 
Petersburg,  427  f. 
Philadelphia,    70,    167,    172,    190, 

195,  200,  237,  240,  242,  278,  280, 

282  f.,  335,  336,  411 
Philip  II,  king  of  Spain,  22,  35  n. 
Philippine  Islands,  546,  549  f. 
Pickering,  Thomas,  202 
Pickett,  General  George  E.,  42 5  f. 
Pierce,  Franklin  H.,  353,  370 
Pierce,  Major  William,  173 
Pigapheta,  Anthoyne,  n,  14 
Pilgrims,  the,  34 
Pinchot,  Gifford,  560 
Pinckney,  Charles,  297  n. 
Pinckney,  Charles  C.,  201  f. 
Pinkney,  William,  295,  299  f. 
Pitcairn,  Major  John,  129  f. 
Pitt,  William,    Earl  of   Chatham, 

1 06,  121  n.,  260 
Plains  of  Abraham,  104 
Plymouth,  34  f.,  55  f.,  58  n.  2,  302 
Polk,  James  K.,  318,  323  n.,  327  n., 

328  f.,  332  n.,  333  n.,  336  n.,  353 
Port  Hudson,  422  n.,  432  n.,  433 
Portuguese,  14,  15,  21 
Pory,  John,  24  f. 
Pownall,  Governor  Thomas,  in, 

114 

"  Present  Crisis,"  the,  319  n. 
Price,  Reverend  Richard,  163 
Princeton  College,  157 
Privy  Council,  119 


Profits  in  World  War,  587  f. 
Proprietary  Colonies,  50  f. 
Proud,  Robert,  63  and  n. 
Ptolemy,  3 
Puerto  Rico,  550 
Pulci,  4 

Pullman  strike,  526  f. 
Purchas,  Samuel,  18 
Puritans,  34  n.,  37  f. 

Quaife,  M.  M.,  328  n.,  329 

Quakers,  63  f.,  78 

Quebec,  104  f. 

Quincy,  Josiah,  83 

Quitman,  Governor  John  A.,  351 

Railroads,    278  f.,    480  f.,    485  n., 

526  f. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  18,  21 
Randall,  Richard,  303  f. 
Randolph,  Edmund,  177 
Randolph,  Edward,  48  n  ,  49 
Rasieres,  Isaac  de,  55 
Reconcentrado  Order,  547  and  n. 
Reconstruction  453 f .,  455  n.,  458  f ., 

461 
Reeder,    Governor    Andrew    H., 

37° 
Republican   party,  360,  378,  381, 

385  f.,   394  f.,    397,   464,   468  f. 

474,  480  f.,  505  f.,  581 
Restoration  of  1660,  28,  39,  42,  72 
Resumption    of   specie    payment, 

485  f. 
Revolution,    American,    63,    141, 

148  f.,  163  f.,  197 

Revolution,  the  "  Glorious,"  46,  49 
Richmond,  Va.,  427,  430,  433 
Rio  Grande  River,  329  f. 
Robertson,  James,  I55n.,  209 
Robinson,  John,  34  f.,  36  f. 
Rochefoucauld-Liancourt,     Duke 

of,  187 

Rockingham,  Marquis  of,  121  n. 
Rocky  Mountains,  260,  323  f.,  367 
Rome,  22,  169  n. 
Roosevelt,  Theodore,  499  and  n., 

556  f.,  562  f. 

Rush,  Richard,  324,  325  n. 
Russell,   Lord   John,   323  n.,   415, 

474  n. 
Russell,  Governor  William  E.,  542 


604 


Index 


Whitefield,  Reverend  George,  84  n. 
Whiting,  Samuel,  39 
Whitman,  Walt,  445 
Whittier,  John  Greenleaf,  345 
Wigfall,    Senator,    383  n.,    387  n., 

405 

Wilkes,  Captain  Charles,  420 
William  III,  king  of  England,  48  n., 

91  n.,  95  n. 

WTilliam of  Orange  (theSilent),  35  n. 
Williams  College,  495  f. 
Wills  Creek,  100,  103 
WTilmot  Proviso,  342,  348,  350  n., 

359  and  n. 

Wilson,  James,  133  n.,  175 
Wilson,  General  J.  H.,  453 
Wilson,  Governor  J.  L.,  306 
Wilson,  Woodrow,  559  n.  2  ;  and 

Mexico,   57 if.;  and   Germany, 

577  f.,   581 ;  message  on  labor, 


590  f. ;  at  peace  conference, 
590  n. 

Wins,or,  Justin,  6 

Winthrop,  John,  governor  of  Con 
necticut,  53 

Winthrop,  John,  governor  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  38 

Wirt,  William  R.,  306  n.  2 

Wise,  Henry  A.,  427 

Wise,  John  S.,  427,  444  n. 

Woodford,  Stuart  L.,  546  f. 

Wolfe,  General  James,  104  f. 

XYZ  affair,  200  f. 

Yeardley,  Sir  George,  24 
York  River,  31 
Yorktown,  147,  153  f. 

Zamal  (Samar),  13 


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